-u 




Class __L_z:^_ii: 




A NORMAN SHIP 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. 

VI. THE TWO ROSES 

VII. THE TWO ROSES {coutifiued) 

VIII. "the end of the king-maker 

IX. WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER 

X. THE TWO PRINCES 

XI. BOSWORTH FIELD 

XII. TRUE OR FALSE? 

XIII. FLODDEN FIELD 

XIV. THE GREAT CARDINAL 
XV. THE GREAT CHANCELLOR 

XVI. THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN 

XVII. THE RIVAL QUEENS 

XVIII. IN THE WESTERN SEAS 

XIX. THE PERFECT KNIGHT 

XX. THE GREAT ARMADA 

XXI. A FAVOURITE ... 

XXII. SIR WALTER RALEIGH 

XXIII. A LITTLE ROMANCE 

XXIV. KING OR PARLIAMENT? 
XXV. IN WESTMINSTER HALL 

XXVI. THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL 



FAGE 
285 

299 
308 

323 

340 
347 
355 
364 
370 
379 
388 

394 
403 
412 
421 
427 

439 
446 



BOOK III. 
FROM THE LORD PROTECTOR TO QUEEN VICTORIA. 



I. THE LORD PROTECTOR ... 

II. THE ROYAL OAK 

III. SOLDIER AND SAILOR 

IV. THE GREAT PLAGUE 
V. THE GREAT FIRE 

VI. THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY 

VII. THE SEVEN BISHOPS 

VIII. LONDONDERRY... 

IX. BLENHEIM AND AFTER ... 

X. GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON 



455 
464 

473 
483 
496 

503 
508 

515 

525 
536 



viii 


CONTENTS. 




CHAP. 




PAGE 


XI. 


THE '15 


543 


XII. 


THE '45 


• 551 


XIII. 


PLASSEY 


565 


XIV. 


QUEBEC 


573 


XV. 


THE LOST COLONIES 


580 


XVI. 


THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN 


588 


XVII. 


•'the GREATEST SAILOR SINCE THE WORLI 






BEGAN " 


594 


XVIIL 


FROM LISBON TO THE PYRKNEl'S ... 


603 


XIX. 


WATERLOO 


614 


XX. 


NAVARINO 


621 


XXI. 


"the white north" ... 


628 


XXII. 


THE KHYBER PASS 


635 


XXIII. 


THE LION AND THE BEAR 


644 


XXIV. 


CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW, DELHI 


657 


XXV. 


THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 


669 


XXVI. 


QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII .. 


676 



PART I. -^»|f 

UNDER THE R0M4JS[S.^ 



iTHE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



CHAPTER 1. 

CAIUS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 
{Time, a.d. 85.) 

Caius. It has been a great day at the school, 
grandfather. The Governor himself came in to see 
the classes. He heard us recite. Only think ! I 
was chosen to do it in my class, though there are 
at least six of the boys who are older than I. 

Grandfather. What was the book, and what 
was the piece .? But very likely I have never 
heard it. 

C. Oh yes ! you know it. You have heard me say 
it again and again. I don't think that there is any 
piece that I like quite so well. It was the " Shield of 
Aeneas," out of Virgil. 

G. Well, and how did you get on ? 

C. Fairly well, I hope ; at least the Governor praised 
me. He said something kind about my manner, and 
told me that I had caught the true Roman accent. 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



And when he had gone through all the classes, and 
we were assembled in the hall, he made a little 
speech to the teachers and us. He thanked the 
teachers for their diligence. "You have done all," he 
said, " that I expected, and 
more ; though," he went on, 
turning to us, and smiling, 
" you have had excellent 
material to work upon." We 
clapped our hands vigorously 
at that, as you may suppose. 
Then came our turn. " I am 
glad to see so many of you 
here," he said. "The first 
year, and, I think, the second, 
after this school was opened, 
I could hardly have found a 
corporal's guard, and now you 
would more than make a 
company. I don't want you 
to cease to be Britons, but I 
want to make you Romans. 
As Romans, you have the 
whole world before you." 

G. Very fine ! but for my part, if they would have 
kept their whole world, and left us our little island, I 
should have been well content. 




11^.^^ 



THE ROMAN GOVERNOR. 



CAWS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 5 

C. But, grandfather, don't you like the Romans, 
then ? I am sure they have done a great deal for 
us. The school, for instance. Why, they say that 
there isn't so fine a school in all Gaul. And the 
Governor — what a fine fellow he is ! There is nobody 
like him. 

G. True, my boy, true. Agricola, as they call him, 
is a fine fellow. He is the very best Roman I ever 
saw. And his people have done a great deal for us. 
Baths, theatres, temples, fine houses, fine clothes, and 
I don't know what else. What a change from things 
as they were ! Baths indeed ! The rivers and lakes 
were good enough for us ; as for theatres, we were 
quite content with the old man who sat in the 
chimney corner, and sang to his harp ; an oak tree 
served well enough for a temple ; there wasn't a stone 
house in the whole island, a chief lived under timber, 
and mud served a common man's turn ; while for 
clothes, skins kept us warm, with a shirt of wool in 
winter. As for the schools, they are, I confess, the 
best thing they have brought us yet. In old time 
only the priests knew anything ; now the gate is open. 
Still, I wish that we in Britain had never seen these 
strangers from the South. 

C. But, grandfather, this is all very strange. You 
never talked to me in this way before. 

G. No, my boy, and never shall again. But you 



6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

are growing up. You are just about to put on the 
man's gown, are you not ? 

C, Yes, three days hence. 

G. Then it is about time that you should hear the 
story of your country. When you were a child, it was 
of no use to trouble you ; in a few days you will be 
a man, and ought to have a man's thoughts. Now 
listen. 

First I must tell you something about your family. 
Up to this time I have purposely kept you in ignor- 
ance. Well, you and I are all that are left of it, and 
I, you must understand, am not your grandfather, 
as you have been used to call me, but your great- 
grandfather. Your mother died when you were born, 
just sixteen years ago ; how her father died you 
will hear in the course of my story. He, you must 
know, was my eldest son. Well, I was a man of nine 
lustres,^ as the Romans put it — and it is, I must own, 
a convenient way of reckoning — when the Romans 
first came to our island. 

C. Oh, grandfather, I have always thought that it 
was many more years than that, far more indeed 
than the very oldest man in Britain can possibly 
remember. 

G, True, my boy, you are right in a way ; what I 
meant was, the first time they came to stay. Of course 
^ A " lustre " was a period of five years. 



CAIUS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 7 

the other was long before my time, or any one else's 
that is now alive. 

C. Yes, it was in Julius Caesar's time, the very first 
of the Roman emperors, and there have been eleven 
since him, counting the one who is reigning now. 
Julius — the " Divine Julius " our teacher calls him — 
wrote about it. We often have a dictation from his 
book. 

G. Well, I have often heard the whole story from 
some one who had to do with it, and that was my 
grandfather. 

C. And can you remember what he told you ? 

G. Perfectly ; I was about ten years old when he 
died. He was a very old man, as you may suppose, 
but quite clear in his mind, and remembering every- 
thing that had happened in his youth, though he had 
no memory for things of yesterday. He could not 
remember, for instance, the name of the slave who 
waited on him, nor my name. He would tell the 
same story over and over again, forgetting that he 
had told it perhaps an hour before. I heard what I 
am going to tell you I don't know how many times, 
and as I have got something of the same kind of 
memory as he had, now that I am old — not so old as 
he was, though, by ten years at the least — I can almost 
remember his very words. 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 

" I WAS just thirty years old," my grandfather said^ 
" and had been made a captain in the King's body- 
guard, when we heard that a great number of ships 
were being collected on the opposite coast. Our 
people, you know, had come from there not many 
years before, and there were always a number of 
people going backwards and forwards between the 
two countries. The man who brought the news was 
a trader who used to carry tin from here, and bring 
back wine and other things that are better in Gaul 
than they are here. He told us that it was the 
Roman general who was gathering the ships, that he 
meant to bring over an army in them, and to conquer 
the island. We had heard of these Romans for some 
few years past ; that they had been fighting in Gaul, 
and had conquered a great part of the country. Some 
of our young men had gone over and fought on the side 
of the Gauls. They said that these Romans came 
from a country that was a long way to the south, that 



THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 9 

they were not very strong or big, much shorter in 
fact than the Britons or Gauls, but wonderfully good 
fighters, with excellent armour and weapons, and 
very skilful in using them. The King, when he heard 
this, held a council, and it was decided that envoys 
should be sent to the Roman general — Caesar was 
his name — to ask him what he wanted. They were 
not only to bring back his answer, but were to find 
out for themselves a number of things that it was 
w^ell for us to know, as, for instance, how many 
soldiers Caesar had with him, and when he was likely 
to come. The envoys returned in a few days' time. 
Caesar had told them that the Britons had injured 
him by helping his enemies in Gaul. This they must 
not do any more, and, as a pledge that they would 
not, they must give him hostages and pay tribute. 
Besides this, they found out for themselves that the 
Romans expected to find great riches in the island, 
especially pearls, of which they think very much. 
Caesar had, they thought, about eight or nine 
thousand men with him. Other kings in the island 
had sent envoys who had promised to give what 
Caesar asked, but our men did not believe that they 
really intended to do so. A day or two after they 
came back, we saw a Roman ship sailing along about 
a mile from the coast. We heard afterwards that 
one of the Gauls who favoured Caesar was in it, and 



lo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that he had come to find out what he could about us. 
That, of course, could not have been very much, as 
he never dared leave his ship. 

"Our King never thought of giving hostages, or 
paying tribute, so he sent at once to his chiefs, and to 
the other kings within reach, telling them what he 
had heard and found out, and asking them for help. 
Before long, there were many thousands of men — at 
least three times as many as Caesar had — collected 
together. Meanwhile, there were men watching along 
the coast for the first sight of the enemy's ships. 
It was towards the end of summer when we heard 
of their coming. Our men were all within easy reach, 
and before the Romans were within a mile of the 
shore, all the cliffs were lined with foot-soldiers and 
horse-soldiers and chariots. Of course they saw that 
it was of no use trying to land where the cliffs were. 
They would have been soon destroyed by our darts 
and stones. So they rowed along looking for a con- 
venient place, and we followed along the shore. It 
was not difficult, even for the men on foot, to keep up 
with them, for the ships were mostly heavy, and the 
rowers could move them but very slowly. In about 
an hour and a half's time — it was then nearly noon — 
they found what they wanted, a place where the shore 
was low, and there was deep water almost up to the 
edge. Even then, they found it no easy matter to 



THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. i.i 

get to land. We could see them standing on the 
sides of their ships, while their officers seemed to be 
urging them to jump in. But they did not know how 
deep the water was, for it was thick with sand, and 
then they had their heavy armour on, and they did 
not like to make the trial, all the less because we 
were standing ready for them, some on the shore, and 
others knee-deep in the water. We began to think that 
there was not much to be afraid of, when, all of a 
sudden, we found ourselves pelted with such a shower 
of darts and stones that there was no standing against 
it. The darts came with a force that no one could 
possibly put into his throw, and the stones were of 
such a size — as big as a man's head some of them 
— that I could not have thrown them twice the 
length of a spear, and I was able to throw as far 
as most men in those days. I was knocked over 
myself, and should have been drowned, being in the 
water at the time, had not my brother carried me 
ashore." 

C. Where did the stones come from .'* 

G. From the machines, catapults they call them. 
You must have seen them. The old man did not 
know anything about them, when he told the story, 
nor did any one else in Britain till the Romans came 
again. But to go on with his story. 

" I came to myself very soon, and then I saw that 



12 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

we had all been obliged to get out of reach of the 
darts and stones. Very soon afterwards, I saw a man 
with something shining in his hand jump from one 
of the ships into the water." 

C. Ah ! that must have been the Eagle.^ The 




ROMAN SOLDIERS WITH THE EAGLE. 



extract that was read by the master the other day was 
about it. " The officer who carried the eagle of the 

^ Every Roman legion had an eagle. It was a likeness of 
the bird, with its wings stretched out for flight, and holding a 
thunderbolt in its claws. It was commonly made of silver, but 
sometimes of gold, and was mounted on the top of a long pole. 



THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 13 

Tenth Legion " — this is what it was — " prayed to the 
gods that what he was going to do might turn out well 
for the legion, and said, ' Comrades^ jump dozvn, except 
you ivant to let the enemy have the eagle ; I at least 
will do my duty to my country and my general! This 
he shouted at the top of his voice, and at the same 
time jumped down into the sea and began to carry 
the eagle in the direction of the enemy." 

G. Caesar wrote that, did he ? So my grandfather 
was not mistaken. But to go on. 

"A number of men from all the ships followed 
him. Even then we made a good fight of it. They 
were better armed, but then they didn't know the 
ground as we did. However, whenever they were 
hard pushed, boats full of their own people came to 
help them, and at last they made their way to the 
shore, driving us before them. We could not stand 
against their arms. Their heavy iron swords broke 
ours into pieces, while ours could hardly make any 
impression upon their armour. We thought it a 
lucky thing that they had no horsemen to pursue 
us with. 

"The next day the King held a council. We were 
all greatly discouraged. It seemed no use to fight 
with these strangers. If they could land in spite of 
us, when the advantage was so much on our side, 
what was the good of trying to meet them on equal 



14 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

terms ? So we sent envoys to the general, saying 
that we would do what he wanted, that is, make our 
submission to him and give hostages. He gave us 
ten days to fetch the hostages. 

" But before the time was out the Romans got into 
great trouble. On the fourth day after their coming 
there was a very high tide, which always comes on 
the day after the full moon, and a strong wind blow- 
ing on to the shore with it. They did not seem to 
know anything about high tides. The ships had not 
been drawn up on the shore out of the reach of the 
sea, and those that were at anchor had their cables so 
short that they were sunk. Some of our chiefs, who 
were in their camp, waiting for the hostages, when 
they saw what had happened, made the best of their 
way to the King. * We have these people in a trap,' 
they said. ' Their ships are so damaged that they 
will not be able to get away. They have no provi- 
sions to speak of. And, besides, there are not nearly 
so many as we thought. Let us starve them out. If 
we do, we shall not be troubled with the Romans 
coming over here again.' The King thought that this 
was excellent advice ; only if we were to do the thing 
properly, we must keep our plans secret. So the 
people were told to go in and out of the camp as 
usual, with various things to sell to the soldiers. But 
an ambush was laid in the woods, and when one of 



THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 15 

the legions came out of the camp next day, and began 
to help themselves to the corn in the fields, as their 
way was, we attacked them without any notice. We 
knew exactly where they would be, for they had 
reaped all the wheat except one corner at the further 
end. It was all the better for us, because it had 
woods round it except on one side. 

" At first we had the better of them, for they had 
piled their arms in a heap, that they might have their 
hands free for cutting the wheat, and some of them 
had taken off all their armour except their helmets. 
We killed a good many of them before they could get 
hold of their swords and spears. And when they did 
get hold of them they were all in confusion, and this 
made us more than a match for them, in spite of their 
iron arms and armour. But before we had done any- 
thing like all we wanted, we saw another body of them 
coming out of their camp, all ready for fighting. Their 
chief general was leading them himself. One of my 
comrades knew him at once, for he had been in the 

X camp, and had seen him also two or three times on 

\ the other side of the sea. He wasn't very tall or 

strong to look at, but I could see that he had a face 

/like a hawk, for at one time I was not more than a 

/hundred paces off. All our people who had been 

/ across the sea said that he was a wonderful man to 
plan and scheme. No one ever found him off his 



i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

guard. You see that even then he had suspected 
something, and had this new army ready to help his 
men. If he had not done this, I reckon that not 
many of the others would have got back to the camp. 
As it was, there was very little more fighting that 
day. They were glad to leave off without losing any 
more men, and we were not strong enough to attack 
them when they were prepared to fight. 

" For some days after it rained so hard that it was 
not possible to do anything. Still we weren't idle. 
We sent messengers to all the kings and chiefs within 
reach, begging them to come to our help with all the 
men that they could bring. ' The enemy,' we told 
them, ' are not nearly as strong as we thought ' — that 
we knew from their camp being so small. ' Now is 
the time to get rid of them for good and all. Most 
of their ships are broken to pieces, and they will not 
be able to get away, if they are beaten. We shall kill 
every one of them, and it will be a long time before 
their countrymen trouble us again.' 

" Some of the chiefs would not help, but most of 
those that were at all within reach either came them- 
selves or sent their sons or brothers with bands of 
men. Day after day they came flocking into our 
camp, till we had about three times as many men as 
they had. Even then some of us were against fight- 
ing. I was one of them. I thought it better to wait 



THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 17 

and starve them out. You see they hadn't a great 
store of food with them, and they could not get more 
without running some risk. If we kept on the watch 
while they were foraging for provisions we must find 
them, sooner or later, off their guard. However, we 
were overruled, and the party that was for fighting 
had their way. It was just what the Romans wanted. 
The first fine day they came out of their camp, and 
drew up their men in order of battle. We attacked 
them, and what I had expected happened. We could 
not stand against them in an open fight. That day 
it was all the worse, because most of our side had 
never seen Romans before, and lost all heart when 
they found what they were like. They had been loud 
in boasting of what they would do, but they broke 
and fled almost as soon as they came to close quarters. 
In that battle we lost more men than on all the days 
before put together. This time the Romans had some 
horsemen, which they had never had before. There 
were not many of them, but they cut down numbers 
of our men in the pursuit. 

" After this every one agreed that it would be better 
to make peace ; so we sent envoys to the Roman 
camp. Caesar was fairly gracious to them. The only 
difterence he made in his terms was that the number 
of hostages must be doubled. 

" The next morning we had a great surprise — the 



1 8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Romans were gone ! They had mended their ships 
all unknown to us, and now they embarked during 
the night. We knew nothing about it, for the fires 
were left burning in their camp. Besides, we were 
too busy attending to the wounded and burying the 
dead to heed what they were doing. Not long after 
we heard that they had got across the sea without 
losing any of their ships. More's the pity, I thought 
to myself, for I felt sure they would come again." 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 

C. It looks, grandfather, as if Caesar was afraid, 
his going off so quietly. 

G. Well, my boy, it seems to me that he was 
afraid in one way, and was not afraid in another. 
He found out that he had not brought enough men, 
and that he had come too late, for it was close upon 
the stormiest time of the year. And then he knew 
what our people ought to have done, and what he 
should have done, if he had been in their place. No 



THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 19 

doubt he was glad enough to get safe back across the 
sea ; I take it there was more danger in that than in 
anything else. And that he was really afraid I don't 
believe, for, you see, he came again. But to go on 
with my grandfather's story. 

" There was great rejoicing and not a little boasting 
when we found the camp empty. * They have had 
enough of it,' some of us said, ' we shall not see any- 
thing more of them.' That I never believed ; their 
general, I was quite sure, was not a man to draw 
back from anything that he had set his hand to. 
And so it turned out. 

"We were not left long in doubt about what he 
was going to do. Before the winter was over we 
heard from our friends on the other side of the sea 
that all the ships in the country were being brought 
together to the harbours on the opposite coast, and 
that a number of new ones were being built. Later 
on we were told that the soldiers were being brought 
up to the coast, and that there would be more than 
three times as many as had come the year before. 
All this looked very serious, and as if the Romans 
really meant to conquer the island this time. There 
was some talk among us of all the kings in the 
country joining their forces together ; but it came to 
nothing, at least then. All that was done was to 
gather as big an army as we could find, and to 



20 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

watch the coast. Some time after midsummer — the 
days, I remember, were . beginning to get a little 
shorter — the fleet came in sight, at much about the 
same place where it had been first seen the year 
before. But they seemed, somehow, to be coming the 
other way. They had been carried too far, I suppose, 
by the tide, and were now coming back. As soon 
as we caught sight of the first ships, we made haste to 
get down to the beach where they had landed the 
year before. But when we saw what a multitude of 
vessels there was — there must have been nearly ten 
times as many as had come the last time — our men 
got fairly frightened. In spite of all that some of 
the chiefs could do to keep them at their post, they 
left the shore. In the end, the Romans landed with- 
out any one trying to hinder them. Afterwards we 
found that many of the ships we saw had no soldiers 
on board, but belonged to merchants. They had come 
with the army to buy and sell — buy any plunder that 
the soldiers might get, and sell them wine and other 
things. However, I doubt whether if we had tried to 
stop them from landing we should have done any 
good. 

" They did not give us any rest. The very day of 
their landing, their general, without even waiting to 
pitch his camp, as we had expected that he would do, 
marched up the country after us. We tried to stop 



THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 21 

him at a difficult place, where he had to cross a river 
and then make his way up a steep hill ; but it was of 
no use. We could not stand against him, and had 
to fall back upon a strong fort that had been built 
about twelve miles from the sea. It was now early 
in the morning, for the Romans must have started 
very soon after midnight. The camp was a very 
strong place, and could not be taken, we thought, in 
a whole moon, except by starving the garrison out. 
Well, it was, as I said, early in the morning when the 
Romans came up, and they had taken the place 
before noon. The soldiers covered themselves with 
their shields while they filled up the ditch first, and 
then made a mound against the wall. And all the 
time they did this there was no getting at them, they 
stood so close together and so firm. I don't suppose 
that we wounded more than two or three. After a 
while we gave up trying ; in fact we left the place to 
be taken. 

" That night we held a council. Some were for 
giving in to the Romans without any more delay. 
* We can't make any head against them,' they said, 
and it really seemed as if they were right. But most 
of us were for holding out, but how this was to be 
done we could not think. At last I took courage to 
say what I knew a great many besides myself were 
thinking. ' If we are to save Britain from being con- 



22 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

quered/ I said, * we must unite, we must have one 
general/ For a time there was silence. At last 
some one cried out, ' And who is this one general to 
be?' 'Who can doubt?' I said; * it must be King 







ROMAN SOLDIERS ATTACKING A FORT. 



Caswallon.'^ There was no silence after that, you 
may be sure. Some clapped their hands, but only 

1 Called by Caesar Cassivelminus. What his real name may 
have been is unknown, but it was probably something like 
Caswallon. 



THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 23 

a few, many hissed or groaned. There was not a man 
in all Britain so hated and feared as King Caswallon. 
He was never quiet, but always trying to get hold of 
something that belonged to his neighbours, or to do 
them a mischief in some way. Still, as I said, he was 
the only man, because there was no one else who had 
anything like the power, no one else who was great 
enough for the others to submit to him. People will 
obey a man whom they hate so long as they fear 
him ; ^ but they won't obey one whom they despise. 
Well, there was much talking, but at last all agreed 
that King Caswallon was to be asked to take the 
chief command. 

" By good luck we had some time to get our men 
together, for the Roman general had to go back to 
see after his ships, which had been damaged by a 
storm — so our spies told us. By the time he had 
finished looking after them. King Caswallon came 
up with his men. His cavalry and his chariots were 
the best in Britain, and we hoped that he would have 
better success than we had had. And so it turned 
out for a time. First there was a fight of cavalry, 
and the Roman horsemen followed our men so far 
into the woods that they were entangled. The King 

1 The old Briton seems to have had the same thought in his 
mind that the Roman writer had when he said, " Let them 
hate me if only they fear." 



24 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

saw this and cut off a good many of them. A few 
days afterwards he found them quite off their guard. 
They were busy fortifying the camp, and seemed not 
to have any notion that we were in the neighbourhood. 
We crept up close to them under cover of the woods, 
which somehow they had forgotten to watch, and fell 
on the companies that were nearest to us. These we 
put to flight ; two new companies, which we heard 
afterwards were reckoned to be the best soldiers they 
had, hardly did any better ; we broke right through 
them, kilHng a good many, and carrying off the body 
of one of their chief officers. We lost hardly any of 
our men. 

" There was one thing, you know, in which we had 
the better of them, and that was our chariots. These 
had great scythes fastened to their axles, and did a 
great deal of damage to the enemy. Our men used 
to drive them up at full gallop, and it was very seldom 
that they did not manage to break through the 
Roman line with them. I have seen a dozen chariots 
go clean through a division. After a time they got 
more used to them, for they were wonderfully brave 
men. Then they took to killing the horses. But to 
the very last, the first rush of the chariots made a 
great impression upon them. 

" Of course we were greatly encouraged by our 
success. Unluckily, it made us too bold. A few 



THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 25 

days afterwards we tried a regular pitched battle 
with the enemy, and were terribly beaten. As they 
had now a great number of cavalry, they pursued us 
a long way and killed a great many of our men. 
The next day half or more of those that escaped 
went away to their homes. They had had enough 
of fighting with the Romans. 

"Very soon after this the Romans marched to 
the river Thames. That was then King Caswallon's 
boundary on the south. It could only be forded in 
one place, and that not at all easily, the water was 
so deep and the stream so strong. Besides, to make 
it all the harder, a number of stakes had been driven 
into the bed of the river. I was not there at the 
time, but I heard what happened afterwards from 
some one who was present. They did not stop for a 
moment when they came to the water's edge, though 
the stream was running strong, and the other bank 
was covered with men. They went into the river at 
a run, foot-soldiers and horse-soldiers mixed together. 
It was so deep that the men on foot had only 
their heads above the water. Even that did not stop 
them, nor, as you may suppose, did the men that 
were posted on the other bank. In fact, none of them 
stayed till the Romans got across. They said there 
was no standing against such wonderful soldiers. 

'' After this King Caswallon did not try to meet the 



26 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

enemy in open fight again. He sent all his foot- 
soldiers home, keeping only some of the horsemen 
and chariots. With these he followed the Romans on 
their march. Neither man nor beast was left in the 
open country ; all were driven into the woods ; and as 
soon as ever a Roman soldier left the main body to 
get a little plunder or to look for provisions — and they 
had not much food beyond what they could get in 
this way — he was sure to be cut off. The King could 
not stop the enemy from going on ; still, they lost 
many men in this way. 

" However, they did our people a great deal more 
harm than we could do them. There was not a 
village anywhere near their line of march that was 
not burnt, nor a house or field that was not plundered, 
no, nor a fruit tree that was not cut down. Then 
some of our tribes began to fall off and make peace 
with the Romans. The first to do so were the 
Trinobantes. Caswallon had killed their king, and 
driven his son into banishment. They made a treaty 
with Caesar, sending him hostages, and a quantity of 
corn for his army. Others did the same. From some 
of their envoys the Romans learnt the way to Cas- 
wallon's chief town. It was a difficult place to find, 
v/ith woods and marshes all round it, but these traitors 
sent the Romans a guide. It was a strong place, 
as we had been used to reckon strong places, but the 



THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 27 

Romans made very short work with it ; they attacked 
it on two sides at once, and the King's people did not 
wait for them, but made the best of their way out. 
The King and his tribe lost thousands of cattle there. 

" Then Caswallon tried his last chance. He sent 
orders to the kings on the sea-coast that they were 
to try to destroy the ships. If that could be done 
Caesar would certainly have to go back. They did 
what they were ordered to do, but it was of no use. 
The fortification round the ships was too strong and 
too well protected. The kings were beaten back and 
lost many men. 

"After this there was nothing left for Caswallon 
but to make peace. This he found easy enough, for 
Caesar was very anxious to get away, because he had 
heard bad news from the other side of the sea. The 
King had to give hostages, and he agreed to pay a 
tribute every year. Part of this tribute the Romans 
took away with them, but the rest they never got. 
Caesar had plenty to do in Gaul, as we heard from 
our friends and kinsmen over there, and though he 
sent once or twice to ask for what was owing, he 
never did anything else." 

That was my grandfather's story. Well, the Romans 
never came again till about forty years ago, though I 
remember that there was talk about their coming 
once or twice when I was a young man. 



aS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

KING CARACTACUS. 

C. Well, there is not much difference, after all, 
between your grandfather's story and what JuHus 
wrote. I asked my teacher to let me read it all, for 
I had heard only parts of it before. He offered to 
lend me the book, but I was afraid to borrow it, lest 
it should come to some harm. He said that there 
was not another copy in all Britain, and that he 
should have to send to Lugdunum^in Gaul for it. 
Perhaps Julius makes one think that he did more 
in Britain than was really the case ; but on the whole 
his story agrees wonderfully well with your grand- 
father's. But now tell me what you yourself re- 
member. 

G. So I will. We were threatened by the Romans 
several times before they actually came. Once the 
Roman Emperor came as near as the opposite shore 
of Gaul. Our king Cunobelin had banished his son, 

^ Now Lyons. We know that there were booksellers at this 
time (about the end of the first century after Christ) at 
Lugdunum. 



KING CARACTACUS. 29 

and the worthless fellow went to the Emperor and 
pretended to give up the kingdom to him — of course 
it was never his to give. The Emperor — he was more 
than half a madman I have been told — marched his 
legions down to the sea, drew them up in order of 
battle, and then set them to picking up shells. " Spoils 
of the ocean " he called them, and had them solemnly 
sent to Rome and laid up in the chief temple. Three 
years afterwards they came in earnest. The mad 
Emperor had been murdered, and his successor 
(Claudius) sent a very skilful general to carry on the 
war. In the year following he came himself, but 
stayed only a few days. King Cunobelin's town was 
taken. That did not finish the war ; there was fighting 
for several years in the south and west of the country. 
The last to hold out was the brave King Caractacus. 
He too was conquered in the end. The fact is, we 
Britons are not a match for these Romans. Man for 
man, we are as brave, and certainly taller and stronger. 
But then they have far better arms, and they are 
better disciplined. There was a great battle some- 
where in the west. Our people had a very strong 
position. They were posted on a hill, with a thick 
wood on either side and a river in front. And there 
were three or four times as many of them as of the 
Romans. I have heard that the Roman general him- 
self was afraid to attack ; but the soldiers went on, 



30 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



almost, I may say, in spite of him, and stormed the 
place. Our people, you see, had no breast-plates, 
and their wicker shields were not of much use aeainst 



f 1 




T 


1 1 i 






1 1 ■■ 


^ 




1 1 1 1 




III 


1 


1 




^ 


' 




ROMAN SOLDIERS CROSSING A RIVER. 



a heavy Roman sword. And then their own swords 
and spears were mostly of bronze. You, my boy, 
are used to see everything made of iron, but it was 
not so at the time that I am speaking of, thirty or 



KING CARACTACUS. 31 

forty years ago. Iron weapons cost so much that 
only the chiefs had them. The common people used 
bronze ; and bronze, I need not tell you, is no match 
for iron. Well, as I said, the King's camp was taken, 
and his wife and children with it. His brothers gave 
themselves up. As for the King himself, he managed 
to escape. 

C. And what became of him .^ 

G. He took refuge with a neighbour, Queen of the 
Brigantes. She put him in prison, and gave him up 
to the Romans. 

C. What a wicked woman ! 

G. Yes, indeed ; but what can you expect of a 
creature who sent away her husband, one of the best 
soldiers that ever was in Britain, and married the 
driver of her own chariot } 

C. And what did the Romans do with him } 

G. They behaved better to him than is their 
custom. He was taken to Rome and brought before 
the Emperor. I saw one of the soldiers who was on 
guard that day, and he told me the whole story. The 
Emperor sat on one seat, with the flags of the 
Roman legions round him, and his wife on another, 
just as if she were his equal. We Britons, you know, 
would as willingly have a queen as a king, but the 
Romans don't hold with us in that ; they don't take 
such account of women ; but this was one who thought 



32 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

herself equal to any man, and her husband was, by 
all accounts, a very poor creature. Well, as I said, the 
King was brought, and told to answer for himself, he 
and his brothers and all his family. The rest threw 
themselves on the ground and begged for their lives. 
But he would not stoop to do such a thing. What he 
said was something like this : " If I had chosen to 
submit to you, I might have been your friend and not 
your prisoner to-day ; but I preferred to be my own 
master. I thought that I was strong enough to be 
so ; you have shown me that I was wrong, and you 
have the glory of it. And now, you can do what you 
will with me. If you kill me, there is nothing more 
to be said ; if you pardon me, your generosity will 
never be forgotten." Pardoned he was ; but they 
never let him come back to his own country. They 
were afraid, I suppose, that he would make trouble. 
C. And you took no part in this war } 
G. No ; we had nothing to do with it. You see, 
when King Cunobelin's town was taken, my master, 
whose country was not far off — it lies to the north, as 
you know — thought it best to make terms with the 
new-comers. I and three other chiefs were sent as 
ambassadors to the Roman generals with presents 
and hostages. The Romans always asked for host- 
ages, and a good plan it is for what they want. Ah ! 
they have a clever way of managing the people they 



BOA DICE A. 33 

have to do with. But it is a terrible thing for those 
who have to give them. My own son — my second 
boy — was one of them. He was taken away to Italy, 
and died, I heard, of a fever, about a year afterwards. 
They put a tribute upon us. However, it was not 
very heavy, and, anyhow, we had peace and quiet as 
Jong as we paid it. As for the King, my master, he 
was fairly charmed with the strangers. He went to 
Rome, and when he came back, nothing would satisfy 
him but he must have everything in Roman fashion. 
Ah ! if he could only have foreseen what was to come ! 
Happily for him, the trouble, as you will hear, came 
after his days. 



CHAPTER V. 

BOADICEA. 



One thing that my master learnt at Rome was 
this. It seems that many rich men leave part of 
their money to the Emperor, and the rest to their 
wives and children, or, it may be, to other relatives 
and friends. They think that if the Emperor gets a 
share for himself, he will, for very shame, let the 



34 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Others have what belongs to them. Well, this was 
how my master arranged matters. The Emperor 
was to have a third of all his property ; his wife, 
Queen Boadicea, was to have the same, and his 
daughters the same. Poor man ! he was sadly mis- 
taken if he thought that this would do them any 
good. As soon as the breath was out of his body, the» 
Roman officers broke into the house. They must 
see, forsooth, that the Emperor had his proper share. 
I can't tell you the wicked and shameful things they 
did. They plundered the whole place ; they beat 
the Queen most cruelly with rods ; even that was 
not the worst. Then the whole country broke out 
into a blaze of fury. As you may suppose, this was 
not the first wickedness or cruelty that the Romans 
had done ; there was scarcely a village that had not 
suffered something at their hands. The Queen went 
through the country calling the people to arms, and 
they flocked in thousands after her. Other tribes 
joined us, and before that moon was out we had full 
twenty thousand fighting men. It was just the 
right time for us to make an effort. Almost the 
whole of the Roman army had been taken away 
by the Governor on an expedition against the Island 
of the Priests — it lies a little way off the western coast 
— and our part of the country was left almost with- 
out a single soldier. I myself thought that the time 



BOADICEA. 35 

was come, though I ought to have known better. 
Sooner or later, the Romans were bound to beat us. 
However, at first everything went well ; we began by 
marching against Camalodunum. It is, as you know, 
what they call a colony, a place to which old soldiers 
are sent when their time is up. They are half 
soldiers and half farmers, living in the town, and 
farming the land round it, or rather making the 
people to whom it once belonged farm it for them. 
There had been a new batch of them just come to 
the place, and indeed it was the lawless doings of 
these new arrivals that had been the cause of a great 
deal of the trouble. They were not in the least pre- 
pared for our coming. The walls had never been 
finished ; in fact they had scarcely been begun. A 
walled town, you see, is not pleasant to live in, and 
they had no idea but what they were perfectly safe. 
They would have as soon expected their very cattle 
to turn against them as the people of whom they had 
made slaves. Before long, deserters from the town 
came into our camp. They told us that the whole 
place was full of confusion and fear. It was not 
only the rebellion that made them afraid : there had 
been signs of some great trouble to come. The 
statue of Victory that stood in the great square of the 
town had fallen down, with its face turned in a 
strange way, just as if it had tried to fly. Curious 



36 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



sounds had been heard in the senate-house, and dead 
bodies had been found on the sea-shore when the tide 
was down. All this encouraged us, just as much 
as it discouraged them. They told us, too, that 
they had sent to the nearest station for help, and 




ROMAN SOLDIERS FORTIFYING A PLACE. 



the officer in command could let them have no 
more than a couple of hundred men, and these only 
half armed. No one tried to stop us on the way, 
and when we came to the town, we had only to walk 
in. The walls, as I told you, were little more than 



BOADICEA. 37 

begun. There was only one strong place in the 
town, and that was the Temple of the Emperor. 

C. What do you mean, grandfather, by '' the 
Temple of the Emperor " t 

G. Why, they make gods of their emperors when 
they are dead. Indeed they do something like it 
while they are still alive. So they had made a god 
of Claudius — that was the Emperor, you know, who 
conquered King Cunobelin — and built a temple to 
him, and had priests who sacrificed to him. That, by 
the way, was one of their ways of robbing us. They 
appointed the rich men in the country priests of the 
Emperor, and made them pay so much for the honour 
as pretty nearly to ruin them. Well, as I said, this 
temple was the one strong place in the town, and it 
might have been made, with scarcely any trouble, very 
strong indeed. But nothing had been done ; there 
was neither ditch nor rampart, only the bare walls. 
No one would have thought that they were old 
soldiers, who ought to have known all about these 
things. They hadn't even sent away the women and 
children. The temple was crowded with helpless 
people. The soldiers could hardly have moved for 
them. And, of course, the provisions could not have 
held out for any time. Anyhow, the place was taken 
on the second day. That night there was not a 
house standing or a soul living in all the colony. 



38 . STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Oh, boy, it was an awful sight ; I hope that I shall 
never see another such. 

The same night our spies — of course we had spies 
everywhere, as the whole country was friendly to us — 
brought us the news that a Roman legion was on its 
way to relieve the colony. They knew nothing about 
its having been destroyed, for, naturally, while we 
heard everything they heard nothing. So we laid an 
ambush for them in a wood, about five miles from the 
colony, through which they would have to pass. They 
came marching along without any scouts in front, 
just as if there was not an enemy within fifty miles. 
We rushed out on them, and it was all over in less 
than an hour. Hardly a single infantry soldier 
escaped, and we took no prisoners. The general 
and his horsemen had to ride for their lives. The 
next day we began our march on London. When we 
had got about half way our scouts came racing up 
with the news that the Roman legions were on their 
way back. I was with the Queen when she heard it. 
I saw her eyes lighten. " Good," she said, " we will 
serve them as we served the legion to-day. March 
on." We marched, the people flocking in with arms 
in their hands at every village that we reached. We 
expected, of course, to find the Romans at London. 
It was by far the richest town in the province — what 
it is now does not give you any idea of what it was 



BOADICEA. 39 

then — and we felt sure that the Governor would not let 
us get possession of it without a fight. But he did, 
and it was very well for him that he did. If he had 
tried to keep it, his army must have been destroyed. 
It was far too small to defend so big a place. I 
heard afterwards that the London merchants — Roman 
citizens many of them — begged and prayed him to 
stand by them, but he would not. All that he could 
do for them, he said, was to let the able-bodied men 
come with him. All their wealth beyond what they 
could carry, all the old and the sick, and the greater 
part of the women and children were left. Well, I 
don't like to think of what happened. I would give 
a good deal if I could forget it. Enough to say that 
what had happened to Camalodunum happened to 
London. It was said that seventy thousand poor 
creatures perished, many of them our own country- 
men too, for no other fault than that they had made 
friends with the Romans. Of course our people had 
a great many wrongs to avenge, but to do it in such a 
fashion — and what that fashion was I should not like 
to tell you — was too horrible. Another Roman town 
about twenty miles from London was destroyed, and 
then came the end. Of course the Queen could not 
keep her army together for a very long time. They 
ate up everything in the country round, and indeed 
were in a fair way to be as much hated by the people 



40 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

as the Romans themselves. It was necessary for her 
to get back to her own capital, and to do that she had 
to fight, for the Governor had posted himself in a 
strong place on the way. But I must put off telling 
you what happened to another day. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BOADICEA {continued). 



C. You promised, grandfather, to finish the story 
of the Queen. 

G, You shall hear it, though it was a miserable 
business from beginning to end. Well, after the 
Roman towns had been destroyed, many of our 
people, not so much the Queen's own tribe as those 
that had joined in afterwards, began to shp away 
with their plunder. I dare say some of them hoped 
to get off free whatever might happen. However, 
there were quite enough left to do all that was wanted. 
Indeed, to tell you the truth, I believe that we should 
have fared much better if we had had only half the 
number. A great mob of all sorts such as we had, 



BO A DICE A. 4? 

many of them with more of the robber than the soldier 
in them, was not good for much. It was too confident 
at first, and too easily frightened afterwards. How- 
ever, we did not think so then. You see we had never 
really tried what the Roman soldiers were like. The 
legion we destroyed on the way to London was taken 
by surprise, and had no chance of showing what it 
was like. After that there had been no fighting at 
all, only plundering and slaying helpless people. And 
we certainly seemed to be more than a match for 
them. Our scouts told us that- the Governor had 
no more than ten thousand men. He had sent — so 
they said — to the commander of a camp in the west 
to bring all the troops that he could spare, and the 
man had refused. That encouraged us, as you may 
suppose, not a little. Some of the Romans, we could 
see, were afraid. 

C. But what a foolish thing for him to do, grand- 
father ! 

G. Yes, indeed, my boy. What could he have 
hoped to do if the main body had been destroyed .'* 
He killed himself afterwards, so ashamed was he of 
having been so cowardly and foolish. However, as 
I said, it gave us no little confidence. There was 
scarcely one among us but believed that there would 
not be a Roman soldier alive at the end of the day. 
Soon after daybreak we were ready for the battle. 



42 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Before we moved forward the Queen drove in her 
chariot through the army, and spoke to every division 
— it was divided, you must understand, by tribes, and 
not a Httle jealousy and quarreUing was there about 
places. 

C. What was she like, grandfather ? 

G. The very noblest-looking woman that I ever 
saw. She was taller than most men — indeed there 
were not many in the whole army that overtopped 
her. There was a stern look on her face, and a fierce 
light in her eyes, though I can remember a time when 
she was as sweet and gentle a lady as there was in 
Britain. But many things had happened since then. 
Her hair was of rich golden red, and fell in great 
waves down to her hips. Round her head it was kept 
together by a circlet of gold. She had a tunic, with 
crossbars of bright colours on it — you seldom see such 
a thing now that the Roman dress is so much in 
fashion — and a military cloak over her shoulders. In 
her right hand she held a spear. 

C. Can you remember what she said, grandfather > 

G. Every word, and shall to the day of my death, 
or as long, at least, as I remember anything. But I 
shall not repeat it. What good would it be if I did } 
The Romans are our masters, and it is best to be 
content with them. Anyhow they are the best that 
we are likely to find. But you shall hear the last 



BOADICEA. 43 

thing that she said, because it was so like her. " We 
must conquer," she said, " nor do I see how we can 
fail. But if not, what then ? DIE, that is what a 
woman means to do ; I leave it to vien to live and be 
slaves." 

The Queen had left her own people to the last ; 
and as the division to which I belonged was on the 
extreme right of the army — she began her progress 
through the divisions at the left — when she had finished 
her speech to us the battle began. Our men rushed 
forward helter-skelter, as if they were going to simply 
run over the enemy, as a herd of cattle might run 
over a man. And there was such a cloud of javelins, 
darts, arrows, stones, as, I should think, had never 
been seen before. The Romans simply stood where 
they were, and bore it. They held their shields 
over their heads, but no man moved an inch from his 
place. If a man was struck down — and though 
hundreds of missiles missed where one hit, some 
of them were ; I myself saw several fall — the gap 
was filled up in a moment. This went on for 
about an hour. By the end of that time we had 
spent all our stock of breath and of weapons. Then 
there happened something that I suppose no one had 
looked for. The legion charged. It was in close 
order, something like a wedge, and marched, I may 
say, like one man. There was no standing against it. 



44 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



It broke through our loose ranks as a hatchet breaks 
through a piece of wood. And then their light-armed 
soldiers and their horsemen finished what the legion 
had begun, for they cut down those that fled, or tried 
to fly, for it was very hard to get away from the battle- 
field. There were rows of wagons in our rear, in 




ROMAN SOLDIERS IN BATTLE. 



which the women and children were carried. Poor 
things ! they had come to see a fine sight, as they 
thought. But it turned out to be something very, 
very different. 

C. And what happened to the Queen ? 

G. It was no fault of hers that she did not die on 
the field of battle. If a woman ever sought for death, 



BOADICEA. 45 

she did. But it was not to be. Towards the end of 
the day she was wounded, and fainted with loss of 
blood. While she was in this state her charioteer 
drove her off the field. It was a long time before 
she rightly came to herself. When she did she would 
have killed herself; but her servants put everything 
out of her reach. You see they wanted to make favour 
with the Romans by giving her up to them. The 
Governor would have paid a high price, no doubt, if 
he could have got hold of her alive. Of course 
you have read in your histories about the Roman 
triumphs, as they call them. It would have been a 
fine thing for the Governor to take such a woman as 
the Queen through the streets of Rome. I doubt 
whether they had ever seen her like before. How- 
ever, they did not get their way. She managed to 
get at some poison, and killed herself in that 
way. 

C. So that was the end of the great Queen ! And 
now tell me about my own people. 

G. Your grandfather was killed in the battle, and 
I was taken prisoner. We were in the same chariot. 
Of course I never expected or indeed wished for any- 
thing but death. But they spared my life ; I had 
been able to save a few people when London was 
sacked, and they were grateful for it. One of them 
in particular, a very rich knight, made great interest 



46 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with the Governor for me. He found it a very hard 
matter, for Pauh'nus — that was the Governor's name 
— was as hard and stern as a man could be. But 
PauHnus was recalled, and some one less stern and strict 
was sent out in his place. Then I received my pardon, 
and with it a share of my property, which, of course, 
had been confiscated. At the time I would sooner 
have died, but afterwards I was reconciled to life. My 
son, your grandfather that is, had left a daughter, who 
was then a girl of ten years old or so. It was a great 
comfort to me to have her with me ; she was all that 
was left to me, for my second son had died, as I told 
you, in Italy. When she was eighteen, she married 
a Roman officer, who had bought some property in 
the island. I thought that I should spend my last 
days with her and her husband, but it was not to be. 
The year after their marriage there were awful troubles 
all over the world, and they reached even to our poor 
home out here.^ First the Emperor at Rome was 
killed, or rather driven to kill himself. Then the 
general that was chosen to come after him was mur- 
dered by the soldiers in the streets of Rome. The 
soldiers of Rome put up an Emperor of their own, 
but the army in Germany would not have him, and 
chose their own general. He won the victory, after 
some very fierce fighting. And then the army in the 
^ This was the year 69 A.D. 



BOA DICE A. 47 

East had their turn. Why should not they have their 
Emperor, they said, as well as any one else ? And it 
so happened that they had a really good man at their 
head. Vespasian was his name. Many years before 
he had been a soldier in this country, and had dis- 
tinguished himself very much, and my son-in-law had 
served under him then, and had got to like and admire 
him very much. And now, as soon as he heard what 
had happened, nothing would content him but that 
he must hurry over to Italy, and do what he could to 
help his old chief. I could not blame him, but all 
the same I wished with all my heart that the thought 
had never entered into his mind. But he was ambi- 
tious, I suppose, as well as grateful. He had thought 
that he was content to farm, and hunt, and fish, but 
it was not so ; as soon as he had the chance of some- 
thing more he took it. Well, there was some sharp 
fighting in Italy before Vespasian's party won the 
day, and my granddaughter's husband went through 
all of it without getting as much as a scratch. And 
just in the last battle of all, at the very end of the 
day, when they were making their way into Rome, 
he was killed by a wounded man, who struck at 
him from the ground. The news killed my poor 
granddaughter. You were born on the day when 
it arrived, and she just lived long enough to kiss 
you» 



48 STOKJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Now, my dear boy, you will not wonder that I do 
not altogether love these Romans. Still, they are 
here, and you must make the best of them. My 
time is short, and the future does not concern me ; 
but you have your time to live, and the better 
friends you are with your masters, the more you 
will prosper. 



PART II. 

IN SAXON TIMES. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 

There had been a battle at the Ford of the river 
Wye between Griffith, one of the Princes of Wales, and 
the West Saxons. The Welsh had won the day, not 
a little by the help of the young Prince Constantine, 
who had come from the British kingdom of Cumbria, 
in the hope of marrying the sister of Prince Griffith. 
As they sat at the feast after the battle, the talk of 
the chiefs turned upon the old days when the Britons 
dwelt in peace in their land before the Saxons from 
the Eastern seas had come to vex them. 

" Tell me," said Prince Constantine, turning to 
Hoel the minstrel, " tell me how these troubles began. 
I have heard the tale as it is told in my own country, 
and I would willingly hear it as it is told in yours." 

" Prince," said Hoel, *' I can refuse nothing to so 
valiant a fighter ; but it is a tale of sorrow and wrong, 
and ill suited for a feast." 



52 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

"Speak on," said Constantine ; "your story shall 
teach us to grow wiser and better." 

" Know then," said Hoel, " that for a time after the 
Romans left us, things went well in Britain." 

"Stay," cried the Prince, "you must pardon my 
ignorance ; but tell me why these Romans left us. 
Did we drive them out } " 

" Not so," answered the minstrel ; " they needed 
their armies elsewhere, for they were themselves hard 
pressed by their enemies. Well, as I said, things for 
a time went well But our fathers had forgotten how 
to fight, nor did they rightly know how to govern 
themselves. And hence came our troubles. These 
began with King Constans, a good man, doubtless, but 
one who, having been a monk, cared little for the 
things of this world, and committed all the affairs of 
his nation to a certain noble, Vortigern by name. This 
man was possessed with a great ambition, having it 
in his mind to become King himself. To this end he 
laid his plans. First he asked the King to give him 
the charge of his treasures and of his strong cities. 
'Your enemies, Sir,' he said, 'have the purpose of 
invading Britain, and I would keep these things safe 
for you.' The King granted him his request, not 
suspecting any evil ; but Vortigern put into these 
strong places men of his own choosing, who would be 
ready to do what he desired. Next he said to the 



THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 53 

King, * I hear that the Picts ^ are about to attack us, 
bringing with them alHes from beyond the sea. Now 
my counsel is that you increase the number of your 
own guard.' 'Do as you will,' answered the King. 
* Have I not left all things to you .'* ' * Then,' said 
Vortigern, ' the best men that we can have for this 
purpose are the Picts themsel\^es. I will hire a 
hundred of them, for they will not only serve as a 
guard, but will also spy upon their own countrymen, 
if they should have any design against us.' Constans 
consenting, as he consented to all things, Vortigern 
hired these Picts, receiving them into the King's 
household, and feeding them sumptuously, and giving 
them many gifts. After he had thus won their hearts, 
he said to them, * I have it in my mind to leave this 
island of Britain, and to look for a better estate else- 
where. Here my revenues are so small that I cannot 
support even fifty men, much less a hundred.' The 
Picts said to one another, * Why do we suffer this man 
to live } Why do we not kill him, that Vortigern, who 
is far worthier than he, may have his crown "i ' 
Thereupon they broke into the chamber of the King, 
and slew him. His head they cut off, and carried it 
to Vortigern. But he, pretending that the thing was 
done without his knowledge, commanded that they 
should be bound and put to death. There were some, 
1 The inhabitants of Northern Britain. 



54 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



however, who believed that he was guilty in this 
matter. The Picts also desired to avenge the slaying 
of their countrymen. And besides these things, the 
young brothers of King Constans, who had been carried 




,-^ 



A SAXON SHIP. 

across the sea by their tutors when the King was 
killed, were now preparing to return and to claim 
their kingdom by force of arms. Thus it came to 
pass that Vortigern was in great straits. Being in 
this condition, he heard that three galleys, full of 



THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 55 

armed men, had come to the coast of Kent, under the 
command of two chiefs, Hengist and Horsa by name. 
Vortigern commanded that these strangers should be 
brought into his presence. When they had come, he 
asked them of what country they were, and for what 
purpose they had visited his kingdom. The chiefs 
made this answer, ' It is the custom in our country, 
that from time to time, when the number of .our 
people is greater than the land can feed, our princes 
gather all the youth of the nation into one place. 
This being done, they cast lots who shall go into other 
lands wherein they may earn their own livelihood. 
This year the lot fell upon us, and we are come hither 
to offer you our service.' 

" To this Vortigern answered, * I am rejoiced at 
your coming. I am hard pressed by many enemies. 
If, therefore, you will help me against them, I will 
entertain you honourably in my kingdom, will give 
you good wages for the present, and will settle you 
hereafter on lands which you can cultivate for 
yourselves.' 

** To this the new-comers gave their consent. Not 
many days afterwards the Picts invaded Britain with 
a great army, and Vortigern went against them with 
his men, taking with him the Saxons, for so the 
strangers were named. In the battle that was fought 
the Britons had scarcely need to do anything, for the 



56 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Saxons, by their own strength, turned the Picts to 
flight. Vortigern now gave to the Saxons certain 
lands in the east country. Thereupon Hengist said 
to him, ' You have yet many enemies, my lord. Shall 
I send for more of my countrymen, for of a surety we 
shall need them ? ' ' Send for as many as you will,' 
said Vortigern, * they will all be welcome.' Then 
Hengist spake further : ' I have yet another thing to 
ask. You have given us land sufficient ; suffer us 
also to build a fortress, which may be called after my 
name, for this is an honour which is my due, seeing 
that you or yours commonly possess it.' Vortigern 
answered, ' This may not be ; you are strangers and 
pagans, and know not the customs of the land. Were 
I myself inclined to it, my nobles would not suffer it' 

" To this Hengist answered, ' Give me so much as 
this, O King, to wit a piece of land so large as may 
be surrounded by a bull's hide, with which I may 
do what I will.' 

" ' Let it be so,' said Vortigern. 

" Then Hengist cut up a bull's hide into thongs ; 
these he fastened together in one piece, and sur- 
rounded with it a piece of land which he had chosen 
for himself as being the most strongly placed in the 
whole country. This was afterwards called Thong 
Castle. 

" After this the messengers which Hengist had sent 



THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 57 

to his own country returned, bringing with them 
eighteen ships full of the bravest soldiers that they 
could find. These the King took into his service ; 
and at the same time went to see the castle which 
Hengist had built for himself. Being here entertained 
at a royal banquet, he was waited upon by Hengist's 
daughter, Rowena, for she had come with the fresh 
company of warriors, having been sent for by her 
father. She had come out of her chamber, carrying 
in her hand a golden cup full of wine. This she offered 
to the King, making at the same time a low courtesy, 
and saying, ' Lord King, I will drink your health ! ' 
Then she drank to his health, and the King also drank 
to her. Now Rowena was very fair, and the King 
loved her greatly, so that he would have her father 
give her to him for wife. This Hengist, by the 
advice of his lords, consented to do. ' Only,' he said, 
' you must give me for her your kingdom of Kent.' 
This the King consented to do, bringing upon himself 
thereby great hatred from his nobles and from his 
three sons, for he had three by his former marriage 
that were now grown to manhood. 

" And now more and more of the Saxons came from 
over the sea, the King either inviting them, or at the 
least suffering them. At this the Britons were so 
much disturbed that they took away his kingdom 
from him, and set Vortimer his eldest son to rule in 



58 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

his stead. Vortimer was a very brave and skilful 
soldier, and conquered the heathen in many battles 
till they were well-nigh driven out of the country. 
But this worthy Prince was cut off in the flower of 
his days, for his step-mother Rowena contrived that 
a draught of poison should be given to him, from 
which draught he died. 

" When Vortimer was dead, the Britons restored the 
kingdom to Vortigern, and he, his wife urging him, 
sent a message to Hengist that he should return to 
Britain. * Only,' he said, ' come back with a small 
company of men, lest there should be strife between 
you and my people.' But Hengist took no heed to 
this counsel, but brought as great a multitude of men 
as he could by any means gather together. At this 
King Vortigern and his people were greatly troubled, 
and were resolved to oppose them by force of arms. 
Of this resolve Hengist heard by means of his 
daughter, and thought how to deceive the Britons 
and their King. This they did in this fashion. A 
messenger carne to Vortigern and said, * Hengist 
has brought all his host with him, thinking that 
Vortimer was yet alive, and being minded to make 
himself secure against their attacks. But now that 
he knows for certain that Vortimer is dead, he submits 
himself and his people to your arbitration. Cause such 
as you will to stay, and send such as you will away.' 



THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 59 

" This pleased Vortigern, for being ruled by Rowena 
his wife, he desired that Hengist should remain in 
Britain. It was therefore agreed that the chiefs of 
Britain and the Saxons should meet together at a 
certain place that is now called Amesbury, for the 
settling of these matters. But Hengist commanded 
his followers to hide long knives under their garments, 
and when he should say the words, ' Draiv your dag- 
gers ! ' to slay each man his neighbour. Thereupon 
whilst they were talking together Hengist got hold of 
Vortigern by the cloak and cried, 'Draw your daggers!^ 
Thereupon the Saxons fell upon the princes of Britain, 
who suspected no such thing, and so carried no 
arms, and slew them to the number of four hundred 
and sixty. 

" As for Vortigern, Hengist did not slay him, but 
kept him in prison, nor would release him till he had 
yielded up as the price of his liberty all the chief and 
strongest places in Britain. As for this unhappy 
Prince, when he was released he departed into the 
western parts of the island, much repenting that he 
had brought the heathen Saxons into the island of 
Britain. Nor did he escape due punishment, for 
Ambrosius, son of Constans, having been anointed 
King over Britain, sought to avenge upon him his 
father's death. And this he did, for having found 
him shut up in a very strong tower, and failing to 



6o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

take the place in any other way, set fire to it and 
consumed it and all that were in it. Thus did 
Vortigern die." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 

"You said truly," cried Prince Constantine, when 
Hoel had brought his tale to an end, " that you had a 
sad story to tell. Let us now, if the hour be not too 
late, nor you over weary, hear something of a more 
cheerful kind. Tell us about the great King Arthur." 

" Most willingly," answered the minstrel ; " were the 
night altogether spent, and I worn out with weariness, 
yet I could not refuse to speak of Arthur the Flower 
of Kings. 

" When Ambrosius, son of Constans, was dead, his 
brother Uther reigned in his place. When Uther's 
wife was about to bear him a child, the wise man 
Merlin, knowing that this child would be a son, and 
would grow to be a great king that should deliver 
Britain, prayed the King that the child might be 
delivered to him so soon as it was born. For he 



THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 6i 

knew by his art that this was the best thing that 
could be done for the child. The babe, therefore, was 
wrapped in cloth of gold, and delivered by two ladies, 
to whom the King had given this command, into the 
hands of Merlin himself, who was standing at the 
castle-gate in the disguise of a poor man. Merlin 
carried the babe to a priest, who christened him by 
the name of Arthur. This done he took him to the 
house of a certain knight. Sir Hector. Sir Hector's 
wife nourished him, and there he lived many years, 
being reckoned as one of Sir Hector's children, for 
none knew who he was in truth, save only Merlin and 
the King. 

" Uther, having fought bravely with the Saxons, 
who all this time were spreading their power more 
and more over Britain, became so sick that he was 
ready to die. His knights came to Merlin, and 
inquired whether there was any remedy for the King's 
sickness } Merlin made answer — 

" * Remedy there is none ; this sickness is to death. 
Nevertheless, be ye present all of you to«-morrow, for 
the King will speak before he die.' 

" So on the morrow all the knights came and stood 
by the King's bedside. Then Merlin said with a loud 
voice, ' My lord, is it thy will that thy son Arthur 
shall be King after thee } ' Uther turned him about, 
and said in the hearing of them all, ' I will ; the 



62 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

blessing of God and my blessing be upon him.' And 
having said this, he died. 

"The nobles and knights, when they had buried 
the King, departed each to his own country. Each 
assembled as many men as he could, desiring to 
obtain the kingdom for himself, for they said, ' Who 
is this Arthur of whom the wizard Merlin speaks ? Is 
he indeed son to King Uther } And even if he be, 
why should a boy rule over us .? ' So they were 
divided among themselves, and the Saxons prevailed 
still more, wasting the land on every side. 

" Seeing this, the chief Bishop in Britain, by Merlin's 
counsel, called together all the nobles and knights, 
that they might learn who was ordained of God to be 
King of Britain. Being gathered together, therefore, 
they prayed for a sign, and suddenly there was seen 
before the door of the church a great stone with a 
sword in the midst of it, and on the sword was written 
in letters of gold, * Whoso puUeth out the sword from 
this stone is rightful King of Britain.' Many tried to 
pull it out,' but none could move it even a. little. 
Then ten knights were chosen to watch the stone and 
the sword. 

" After these things a great tournament was held, to 
which among others came Sir Hector with his eldest 
son Sir Key, and Arthur also, who passed for Sir 
Hector's son. It so chanced that Sir Key found that 



THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 63 

he had come without any sword. Turning, therefore, 
to his brother Arthur, for such he thought him to be, 
he said, * I pray thee, fetch me my sword.* So 
Arthur rode back with all haste to the house, but 
found it locked. Whereupon he said to himself, ' I 
will take the sword that is by the church-door, for my 
brother shall not go without a sword to-day.' So he 
came to the church. Now the knights that had been 
set to watch the stone and the sword had gone all of 
them to the tournament ; so Arthur, knowing nothing 
of the matter, took the sword by its handle and lightly 
pulled it from its place. Not once or twice only but 
many times was this trial made, for the nobles and 
knights would not believe that this lad was their 
rightful King. But the end was always the same ; 
none but Arthur could put the sword back into its 
place, or pull it therefrom. So at last, with consent 
of all the people, he was crowned King. 

" And now, being established in his kingdom, he set 
himself to overthrow the Saxons, who had taken the 
occasion of the divisions among the people of Britain 
to advance their power more and more. First he 
rode with all his hosts to York, where Colgrin the 
Saxon lay with a great army. With him he fought a 
great battle, in which many were slain on both sides ; 
at the last he drove Colgrin into the city and there 
besieged him. Then came Colgrin's brother Baldulph 



64 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with six thousand men, to help him ; but Arthur fell 
on him unawares, and scattered his enemies. Never- 
theless Baldulph made his way into the city, for he 
shaved his head, and disguised himself as a jester, 
and so passed through King Arthur's camp, and on 




SAXON WARRIORS. 



coming to the walls, was drawn up by ropes into the 
city. 

"After a while there came news to the King, as he 
watched the city, that there had come six hundred 
ships, and had landed a countless army of Saxons on 
the eastern coast of Britain. So the King left besieg- 
ing York, and marched to meet them, having with 
him his nephew Hoel, King of the Britons that live 
in Gaul. The Saxons were now besieging Lincoln. 



THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR, 65 

There Arthur fell upon them, and after a fierce battle 
defeated them, killing more than six thousand men. 
Those that remained fled into a wood that was close 
by, and there defended themselves bravely. But 
when the King, having cut down the trees, had made 
a barricade and so shut them in, they asked for peace. 
And when they had agreed to give up all the gold 
and silver that they had, and to sail away in empty 
ships, promising that they would never return, and 
giving also hostages for the fulfilment of this promise, 
the King suffered them to depart. But when they 
had been but a few hours at sea, they repented them 
of what they had done. They did not indeed return 
to the place which they had left, but sailed southward 
and westward, landing at last in Devonshire. Thence 
they marched inland, ravaging as they went, till they 
came to the town of Bath. 

" When the King heard of their falsehood he was 
very wroth, and swore a great oath that he would not 
rest till he had driven these deceivers out of Britain. 
Then he marched with all his forces to Bath'. 

" When he came to the place he dressed himself in 
his armour. On his head he put a helmet adorned 
with a dragon of gold ; he girded himself with his 
sword Excalibur, and in his hand he took the great 
spear that he called Ron. Having done this he put 
his men in order, and led them out against the enemy, 



66 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

who had taken up their place on the side of Badon 
Hill. All that day the two armies fought, but the 
Saxons stood their ground, nor could King Arthur, 
for all his fierceness, drive them from their place. 
That night both the hosts lay down upon the hill. 

" The next day the King led his army again to the 
attack, and this time he drove the Saxons before him 
till he gained the top of the hill. From that he drove 
them again down the other side till they were utterly 
scattered. Thus did King Arthur that day deliver 
Britain. 

" Of the other things that the King and his knights 
accomplished, and how at the last he was overcome 
by treachery, I have not now time to tell, for the 
night is far spent, and chiefs who have fought as ye 
fought to-day must sorely need rest." 

So Hoel ended his tale. 

We need not ask how far the minstrel's story was 
true. Perhaps, like most minstrels' tales, it was half 
poetry ; but such tales kept alive among the Britons 
the recollection of the times of confusion which 
followed the departure of the Romans, and the 
memory of a great British chief, who stopped for a 
while the progress of the Saxons in the West of 
England. 



HO IV ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 67 



CHAPTER IX. 

HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 

Whatever success the Britons may have had, it 
did not last very long. The English, Saxons, Jutes, 
and others — afterwards all called English — came 
pouring over from the countries about the mouths of 
the Elbe in North Germany, and the Britons could 
not stand against these daring sailors and fierce 
warriors. Fifty years after the battle of Badon Hill 
the Britons had been driven to the western side of 
the island, and all the rest of England, and part of 
the South of Scotland, belonged to the invaders.^ 

The Romans during the latter part of their stay in 
Britain had become Christians, and the Britons, who 

1 The Britons at this time had Cornwall, Devonshire, and the 
greater part of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. This was called 
West Wales. They had also what we now call Wales, and with 
it Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, and a 
small part of the counties of Worcester and Gloucester. This 
was North Wales, In the North they had Lancashire, the hilly 
country in North-West Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Westmore- 
land. This went by the name of Cumbria. 



68 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

imitated their masters in everything, were Christian 
too. But the Engh'sh, Saxons, and Jutes were all 
heathen, and now the greater part of Britain, which 
had been Christian, was turned again to heathenism. 
I must now tell you how these brave heathen were 
converted. 

In the year of our Lord 572 or thereabouts, 
Ethelbert, King of Kent, who was the most power- 
ful prince in the southern parts of England, married 
a certain Bertha, daughter of the King of Paris. 
Ethelbert was a heathen, as all the English folk were 
in those days, but he promised that his wife, being a 
Christian, should be allowed to worship God in her 
own way. More than this, he permitted a certain 
bishop from France to come with her, and he gave 
them a church in Canterbury, which was the chief 
town of his dominions. This church had been built 
by the Romans, before they left the island. 

About eight years after these things happened, a 
certain Roman named Gregory had his heart wonder- 
fully turned to the work of preaching the gospel in 
this country. He was a man of noble birth and of 
great wealth, and he had founded a monastery in Rome, 
named after St. Andrew, of which monastery he was 
himself the abbot or chief. One day, as he walked 
through the market-place of the city, he saw among 
the various kinds of merchandise three boys, who 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN, 69 

were to be sold for slaves. They were of a fair 
complexion, with long flaxen hair, things to be noted 
in a country where the folk are mostly dark. Struck 
with pity for their hard lot, he asked of the slave- 
merchant from what land they came. 

Slave-Merchant. "From Britain, where all the 
people have this same fair complexion." 

Gregory, "Are the people of this strange country 
Christians or Pagans ? " 

Sla ve-M. " They are Pagans." 

Gregor y {heaving a deep sigh). " Sad is it to think 
that creatures so full of light should be slaves of the 
Prince of Darkness ! But say, of what nation are they ? " 

Slave-M. '' They ryc Ang/i." 

Gregory. '^Angli/ Rightly are they called A7ig{e)li^ 
for their faces are as the faces of angels, and they 
should with the angels be fellow-heirs of the kingdom 
of heaven. But from what province of this island 
of Britain do they come ? " 

Slave-M. "From Deira.''^ 

Gregory. "It is well again. They are delivered 
from the ire of God {de ira = {rom the ire or anger) 
and called to His mercy. And who is the King of 
this region ?" 

1 " Deira " was a region of Northern Britain which may be 
described as being between the Tyne and the Humber. It 
would include, therefore, Durham and Yorkshire. 



70 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Sla ve-M. " Ella is his name." 

Gregory. ''Then Alleluia shall be chanted in his 
kingdom." 

The abbot went: straight from the market-place to 
the Bishop of Rome, and begged permission to go 
and preach the gospel to the inhabitants of this 
far-away island. The -Bishop granted the request, 
and Gregory set out. He knew, it would seem, that 
his going would not be liked by his fellow-citizens. 
Accordingly, he made his departure as secret as 
possible. But what he had expected happened. As 
soon as the people missed him, they burst in upon 
the Bishop, as he was worshipping in the church of 
St. Peter, and demanded with loud cries that their 
beloved Gregory should be given back to them. 
The Bishop had to yield ; messengers were sent after 
Gregory, and overtaking him at the end of his third 
day's journey compelled him to return. 

The good abbot never forgot his purpose of 
bringing his dear " Angels " to the knowledge of 
Christ ; but he had to wait a long time before he 
could carry it out. Ten years after he saw the three 
fair-haired boys in the market-place, he was himself 
made Bishop of Rome. That seemed to make the 
thing more hopeless than ever, for the times were full 
of trouble, and Gregory had work without end to do 
at home. Then it seems to have occurred to him, 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 71 

that what he could not do himself he might do by 
means of another. Accordingly he chose out forty 
men from among the monks of his old monastery, 
and putting the prior/ whose name was Augustine, at 
their head, sent them to preach in Britain. 

Augustine and his company set out on their 
journey, but when they got as far as the South of 
France their hearts failed them. Every one gave 
them terrible accounts of the Pagans that had come 
over and conquered the island of Britain. Nowhere, 
it was said, was there a people so savage and 
barbarous. The missionaries stopped on their way, 
and sent their leader Augustine back to Rome, with 
a petition to Gregory that he would release them 
from their task. 

Gregory refused to listen. He was one of the 
men who do not spare themselves any trouble or 
danger, and expect others to be like themselves. 
He sent Augustine back with a letter full of ex- 
hortation. " Do not shrink," he said, " from your 
duty. Go on, with God to help you. The harder the 
work, the greater the reward." At the same time he 
gave them letters to the bishops of France, who were 
told to give them all the help they could. The 
company started again, and made their way to the 
sea-coast. There they provided themselves with 
1 Next to the abbot 



72 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



interpreters who knew the English tongue, and 
crossing the Channel, landed at Ebbe's Fleet in the 
Isle of Thanet. 

As soon as they were on shore they sent a 
messenger to King Ethelbert. They had come, they 
told him, with good news, news of glory in heaven, 

and of a kingdom that 
should have no end in the 
presence of God. 

The King sent back a 
friendly answer. " I shall 
be glad to see and talk 
with you. But do not come 
for the present beyond the 
river Stour." ^ 

Though he was thus dis- 
posed to be friendly with 
the new-comers, he was 
greatly afraid of them. He 
even made a point of not 
meeting them in any house, 
but in the open air. Under a roof they might put a 
magical spell upon him. In the open air, he thought, 
he would be more safe. Accordingly he arranged 

1 The Stour flows between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. 
Thanet in those days was much more of an island than it is 
now. 




MONKS BEARING A CROSS. 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 



73 



that the first meeting should take place under an 
oak, a tree which his own people held to be sacred. 
Augustine and his companions came up from the 




ip? 



\ -^x 



SAXON KING IN COUNCIL. 



shore in solemn procession. One attend- 
ant carried in front a silver cross ; 
another followed behind holding up a 
picture, done in colours and gold, of 
the Crucified Christ. As the mission- 
aries moved along, they chanted a 
solemn prayer for themselves and for 
the people to whom they came to 
preach. 

Augustine then declared the message 
which he had to deliver. He could himself speak 




74 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

no language but Latin, while the King and his people 
knew only their own English tongue. But the in- 
terpreters whom the missionaries had brought with 
them translated the preacher's words as he went 
on. Augustine explained the picture, telling his 
hearers how the Son of the One God in heaven had 
come down to earth, had died for the sins of a 
guilty world, and had thus opened the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers. 

When the preacher had finished, the King made a 
very friendly answer. ** You promise good things," 
he said, " but there is much in what you say that I 
do not understand, nor can I engage to give up at 
once the customs of my fathers. Nevertheless, you are 
welcome ; you are free to worship God in your own 
way; if any of my subjects wish to follow you, I will 
not hinder them." 

After this the missionaries formed another proces- 
sion, and again chanting solemn prayers, marched to 
the royal town of Canterbury, where they took up their 
abode in dwellings which the King gave over to their 
use. The more the King heard of their teaching and 
saw of their holy life, the more moved he was. In the 
end, before a year had passed from their coming, he 
declared his conversion. On Whitsunday, the second 
day of June, in the year 597, he was baptized. His 
people soon followed his example. On Christmas 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN 75 

Day in the same year ten thousand converts were 
baptized in the Swale, at the northern end, where 
it joins the Medway.^ 



CHAPTER X. 

HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN {continued). 

But how about the " Angels" of Deira, for Deira 
w^as a long way from Ethelbert's kingdom of 
Kent ? 

Many years — nearly fifty from the day when the 
three fair-haired boys stood in the market-place of 
Rome — were to pass before they heard the good news 
of the Saviour Christ. King Ella, whose name had 
made Gregory think of the word Alleluia, died about 
three years before Augustine came to England. He 
left a son, Edwin by name, but this son did not 
succeed him in his kingdom, which was seized by a 
powerful noble of the land. Edwin had to fly for his 
life, and took refuge at the court of a certain Red- 
wald. King of East Anglia. This was more than 

1 The Swale is a channel which divides the Isle of Sheppey 
from the mainland. The spot is probably near what is now 
called Queenborongh. 



76 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

twenty years after his father's death. Redwald was, 
in a way, a Christian ; perhaps King Ethelbert, who 
was his over-lord, had compelled him to make a 
profession of belief. But he was not single-hearted, 
for he still kept the temples of the false gods open. 
The usurping King of Deira sent messengers to 
Redwald, with promises of reward if he would give up 
Edwin to him, and threats of war if he should refuse. 
Redwald was almost persuaded either to kill his guest 
or to give him up to his enemies. Edwin knew the 
danger he was in. A friend had told him what the 
King was thinking of, and had promised to tell him 
of a safer place of refuge. But Edwin would not 
listen to him. He said that he did not believe that 
King Redwald would betray him ; " if he is minded 
to do so," he went on, " I would sooner die than 
wander about any more." The friend then left him, 
and Edwin sat in front of King Redwald's palace till 
it grew dark, thinking how unhappy he was. Suddenly 
he became aware that a stranger was standing by 

him ; and looking up he saw a man in a strange 

dress, whose face he did not know. 

" Why sit you here .'' " said the stranger. 
Edwin. " It matters little where I sit." 
Stranger. " I know your name, and the cause of 

your trouble. What will you give me if I turn King 

Redwald's heart to befriend you ? " 



HO IV ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 77 

Edwin. "All that I have." 

Stranger. "And what, if I give you victory in 
battle, and the kingdom that is yours of right ? " 

Edwin. " I will give you myself. But who are 
you ? " 

Stranger. "That cannot yet be known. But 
remember your promise, when you next feel this 
sign." 

And the stranger put his hand upon Edwin's head, 
and so vanished out of his sight. 

Almost at the same moment Edwin's friend came 
out of the palace, and told him that King Redwald 
had changed his mind, and was now resolved not to 
give up his guest, even if by so doing he should 
bring war upon his kingdom. 

And indeed war did follow. The usurper was 
defeated, and Edwin came into his father's kingdom 
of Deira. 

Nine years afterwards, King Edwin sent envoys to 
Eadbald, son of Ethelbert of Kent, asking for his 
sister Ethelburga to wife. At first Eadbald would 
not consent, for Edwin was yet a Pagan. Afterwards, 
remembering, it may be, how his own mother. Bertha, 
had helped to bring Ethelbert his father to the faith, 
he let her go. Only he took Edwin's promise that 
she should be suffered to worship God according 
to her conscience, and he sent a certain Paulinus 



78 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with her. This Paulinus had been sent by Gregory 
some twenty years before to help Augustine. 

The next year Edwin was nearly slain by a mur- 
derer, sent by the King of Wessex. The man struck 
at the King with a poisoned dagger, but a faithful 
servant that was standing by threw himself between, 
was pierced by the dagger, and so died in his 
master's stead. So the King escaped, but he well- 
nigh lost his wife that same day — it was Easter 
Day in the year 626 — so frightened was she by 
what had happened to her husband. However, both 
she and her baby lived. When the King began to 
thank his gods for this mercy, thinking that it was of 
their giving, Paulinus told him that it was not so, 
but of the mercy of the Saviour Christ, to whom he 
had prayed, he said, for the Queen's life. " Let me 
punish this wicked King of Wessex," said Edwin, 
" and I will myself follow Christ." And to show that 
he meant what he said, he suffered Paulinus to baptize 
the child. She was christened the next Whitsunday, 
by the name of Eanfled. 

The King of Wessex was punished for his wicked- 
ness; but Edwin still delayed to declare himself a 
Christian. At last Paulinus came to him, and laying 
his hand upon his head, as the stranger had done ten 
years before, asked him whether he remembered the 
sign, and bade him, seeing that he had received all 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 79 

according to his desire, fulfil his promise. After 
this Edwin lingered no more ; only he would call 
a council of his chiefs, and lay the thing before 
them, so that, if it might be, all the nation might 
turn to the true God and to His Christ, together 
with their King. So the priests and nobles met in 
council. 

First there rose in the assembly one .Coifi, who was 
the chief of the priests, and spake in this fashion : 
" The gods to whom we give our prayers and our 
sacrifices give us, it seems to me, nothing in return. 
No one of all the people has been more diligent 
in worship than I, yet many have been more happy 
and more prosperous. If this new doctrine promises 
us more, I say that we should follow it." 

After him rose another, an ancient chief, and said : 
"The soul of man, O King, seems to me like unto 
a bird that flies into some room where you and your 
lords are sitting at supper. Out of the darkness it 
flies, and for a brief space sees the light and feels the 
warmth, then it passes into the darkness again and is 
seen no more. So it is with the soul. It comes out 
of the dark, we know not whence ; for a few years 
it tarries among the things we know ; then it goes 
again into the dark, we know not whither. If the 
new doctrin-e gives us light about the things unseen, 
I will leave all to follow it." 



8o 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



At last the King said, "Who will profane the 
temples of the gods ? " 

Coifi the priest answered, " None is fitter for this task 
than I, who have served them these many years." 

Then he mounted a horse, and took a spear in his 




SAXON KING AND HIS RETINUE. 

hand — both things unlawful for a priest — and tilting 
at the idol of the chief temple overthrew it. 

On Easter Day in the year following King Edwin 
was baptized, and multitudes of the people followed 
him, till it seemed as if all Deira and the rest of the 
North country was turned to Christ. 



HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 8i 

But there was trouble to come. Penda. Kinp- of 
Mercia, who was a heathen, leagued himself with a 
British king, and these two meeting Edwin in battle, 
overthrew him and slew him. Then all the land 
seemed to turn away from the faith of Christ and 
to become heathen again. As for Paulinus, he fled to 
Kent by sea, taking with him Queen Ethelburga and 
her children. 

But the light was not put out for long. Only 
when it began to shine again, it came from another 
place. The year after Edwin's death, Oswald, son of 
that same usurper whom Redwald and Edwin had 
overcome and slain, came back to his father's 
kingdom. He had been an exile in Scotland for 
these seventeen years, and had there learnt to follow 
the Christian faith. He sent therefore for some one 
who should teach his people. First came a certain 
Cormac, but he was a man of a harsh temper, and 
could do nothing. Going back to those that sent 
him, he said, '' These English are so stubborn and 
barbarous that it is useless to teach them." "Nay," 
said one of those that heard him, Aidan by name, 
"you did not follow the Apostles' command, and 
feed the babes with milk, but would give them strong 
meat, which they could not bear." Aidan, therefore, 
was sent in his place, and with the help of King 
Oswald brought again all the North country to 



82 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the faith of Christ. So, after some sixty years, 
Gregory's hopes for the " Angels " of Deira were 
accompHshed. 



CHAPTER XL 

KING ALFRED. 



We have heard in the last two chapters of several 
kingdoms, Kent, for instance, Deira, East Anglia, 
Mercia, Wessex. There were others which I need 
not name, two or even three more, so that this time, 
roughly the two hundred and fifty years between 577 
and 827, has been called the " Time of the Seven 
Kingdoms," or the "Time of the Eight Kingdoms." 
But there never were eight or even seven kingdoms 
at once. One rose and another fell. But in 823 
Egbert, King of Wessex, made himself over-lord over 
all the kingdoms of England ; we may say, in fact, 
that he v/as King of England. He died in 836, but 
before the end of his reign the Danes, people from 
Denmark Norway, and Sweden, began to come into 
England, and to fight against the English, just as the 
English had come and fought against the Britons. 
King Alfred, whose story I have now to tell you, 
was a great defender of England against the Danes. 



KING ALFRED. 83 

Alfred was the youngest of the four sons of King 
Ethelwulf, the son of Egbert. Of all the sons he was 
the most fair to look at, and the most gracious in 
speech and act, and the most obedient to his elders. He 
was strong of body, though troubled to the end of his 
life with frequent sickness, and skilful in the use of 
arms, and in hunting. It happened by some chance 
that he was never taught to read. Teachers were few 
in those days, and the times were full of trouble ; yet 
he would listen to the minstrels and others when they 
sang or repeated poems, and this with so much 
attention that though he had read nothing he could 
remember much. At last he learnt to read, and in 
this way. When he was about thirteen years old his 
mother ^ showed to him and his brothers a book of 
poetry which she had in her hand and said, " I will 
give this book to him who shall most quickly learn 
it." These words greatly moved him, especially as he 
was much delighted by the beauty of the first letter, 
which was finely painted in colours and gold. " Will 
you really give this book," he said to his mother, " to 
him who will soonest understand it and repeat it to 
you } " She was glad to hear him speak in this way, 
for before she thought that he did not care to learn. 
"Yes," she said, "I will give it." So the young 

1 Not his own mother, but Judith, daughter of Charles the 
Bald of France, Ethelwulf s second wife. 



84 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Alfred took the book, and did actually learn to read 
it, and to repeat it. The man who tells this story 
was a Welshman, Asser by name, who had been 
brought up in the school which was kept by the 




DANISH WARRIORS. 



monks of St. David's. He was a friend of Alfred's, 
and wrote, for the most part, of his own knowledge. 
Among other things, he tells us how Alfred used to 
lament that when he was young and had both time 
and ability to learn, he could find no teachers, and 



KING ALFRED. 85 

that afterwards he was so much troubled by frequent 
sickness, and by the cares of his kingdom, and by 
continual attacks from the heathen, that is to say the 
Danes, that he could find no leisure. Nevertheless it 
is true that he both read and wrote more than any of 
the kings that were before him or that came after him. 

The Danes gave the English folk but little peace 
in those days. When Alfred was twenty years old — 
it was the very year in which he married his wife 
Alcswith, a noble lady of East Anglia — they came 
to Nottingham, which was one of the chief towns of 
Mercia, and took it, whereupon the King of Mercia 
sent to King Ethelred praying for help. This the 
King willingly gave, marching thither with a great 
army of West Saxons, and Alfred, who was his brother, 
went with him. The Danes would not come forth 
from the town to fight, nor were the English able to 
break down the wall. So peace was made, and the 
two brothers returned to their own country. 

A year or so afterwards there was a great slaughter 
of the English in the East country. Edmund, who 
was King of those parts under Ethelred, fought against 
the Danes, and was defeated, and many of his people 
were slain. When the day was lost, the King, having 
escaped from the field, hid himself under a bridge. But 
one passing by espied him, for his spurs, which were of 
gold, shone in the moonlight ; so he was taken to the 



86 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



camp of the Danes. And the chiefs of the heathen 
would have given him his hfe and kingdom if he would 
deny his Lord Christ. The King, refusing, was first 
scourged, and then set up as a mark for the archers to 
shoot at, and so died. The place where he suffered 
for his faith is called St. Edmundsbury to this day, 
and his name is remembered on the 20th day of 




THE MARTYRDOM OF KING EDMUND. 



November in every year. These things happened 
when Alfred was twenty-two years of age. 

In the year following the heathen came into the 
West country and took the town of Reading, from 
which one part of their army went forth to plunder 
the land, while another built for defence a great 
rampart between the Thames and the Kennet, for the 
Kennet flows through Reading town. Three times 



KING ALFRED. 87 

within the space of ten days did the Englishmen and 
the Danes fight together. The first battle was at 
Englefield;^ there a certain Ethelwulf, who was Alder- 
man of Berkshire, led the Englishmen and won a great 
victory, slaying one of the Danish earls and the greater 
part of their army. Four days afterwards the second 
battle was fought hard by Reading town ; the King 
was there, and Alfred, and the Alderman. First the 
English had the better, slaying such of the heathen as 
they found outside the walls ; but when those that 
were within sallied forth, then the English fled, and 
many were slain, and among them the Alderman. 
And again, after four days, there was yet a third 
battle. The Danes had made for themselves a camp 
on the top of a hill that was named Ashdown, or 
the Hill of the Ash.^ By this time many of their 
countrymen from other parts had joined them, so 
that now they had a very great army, with two kings 
and many earls to lead them. The kings were with 
one part of the army, and the earls v/ith the other. 
On the other hand, the English also divided their 
army into two parts ; one of these was led by King 

^ Near the borders of Berkshire and Surrey, about twenty miles 
from Reading. 

2 Near Lambourn, and between twenty and thirty miles west 
of Reading. The names of several places in the neighbourhood 
recall the event, as Ashbury, Ashdown Park, Alfred's Castle, 
Dragon Hill. 



88 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Ethelred and the other by Alfred. The English 
were on the lower ground, and marched up the hill to 
attack the Danes, Alfred leading the way, for the King 
tarried long in his tent till the priest had finished 
saying mass. Then the Danes came out of their 
camp to meet them, and there was a fierce battle, 
more especially round a certain stunted thorn, which 
Asser, who tells the story, says he had seen with his 
own eyes. At last the Englishmen won the day ; one 
of the kings was slain, and five earls, and all the hill 
was covered with dead bodies. As for them that were 
left, they fled to their stronghold at Reading, the 
English pursuing them and slaying them on the way 
till it was dark. Nevertheless the Danes gathered 
together another army within fourteen days after this 
battle of Ashdown, and fought with Ethelred and 
Alfred near to Basing,^ and won a victory over them. 
After Easter in this year Ethelred died, and Alfred 
became king in his stead, being then twenty-three 
years of age. Nor had he been king for more than a 
month when he had to fight with his enemies again. 
This time also he was beaten. Nor was this the end. 
Ten battles in all did he fight — so say the chroniclers 
— in this first year of his reign. 

After this the land had rest for a while. For 
Alfred, seeing that he could not stand against the 

^ In Hampshire, about twelve miles south from Reading, 



KING ALFRED. 89 

Danes, and that his people were worn out by war 
and other troubles, made peace with his enemies. 
They made an agreement with him that they would 
not come again into his kingdom. Doubtless he 
persuaded them so far by giving them money. How- 
ever this may be, there was peace in the land for four 
years. Then the troubles began again, and increased 
year by year till, when Alfred was twenty-nine years 
old, they came to their height. The Danes sailed up 
the Severn with a fleet carrying a great army of men, 
till they came to the town of Gloucester. There they 
landed, and marching across Gloucestershire and 
Wiltshire came to Chippenham. So strong were 
they, that the King could not even gather an army 
to meet them. Some of the English fled over the 
sea to France ; most of them submitted themselves to 
the invaders. Only Alfred himself was left with a 
few of his nobles. With these he fled far into the 
West country, to a place between the two rivers 
Parret and Tone3 It was an island in those days, 
and men called it the " Isle of the Nobles," ^ because 
Alfred's companions, though they were of noble birth, 
worked with spade and pickaxe to fortify the place. 

^ In Somersetshire, about seven miles from Taunton. 

2 Athelinga Eigge, now shortened into Athelney. Atheling 
we have in the title "Edgar the Atheling." Eigge is first 
found in the word " eyot," the name given to an island in the 
Thames and other rivers. 



90 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

There he abode with his few faithful followers for a 
year. 

The island itself did not furnish food sufficient for 
the King and his company, so that they were con- 
strained to seek it from the country round about. 
On one of his journeys, Alfred took shelter in the 
house of a certain cowherd. The cowherd's wife 
was baking cakes on the fire, while the King sat by 
the hearth mending his bows and arrows. While she 
was busy about other matters, the cakes began to 
burn, the King taking no heed of them. Then the 
woman turned and rebuked him — 



" Ca'sn thee mind the ke-aks, mon, an' doossen zee 'em burn ? 
I'm boun thee 's eat 'em vast enousrh, az zoon az tiz tha 



turn."i 



t>*'j 



At the year's end, Alfred felt that the time was 
come to make a struggle for freedom. The men of 
three shires, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and Hampshire, 
met together at a place called Egbert's Stone.^ 

Two days afterwards a great battle was fought, 
and the Danes were beaten. Many were slain on 
the field ; the rest fled into a fort which they had 
made. Then Alfred besieged them, keeping them so 
close that at the end of fourteen days they asked 

1 Asser gives the words in Latin ; Dr. Giles translates them 
then into the Somersetshire dialect. 

2 Probably in Wiltshire. 



KING ALFRED. 91 

for peace. The conditions of peace were these — 
" Guthrum, the leader of the Danes, was to become a 
Christian, and his chief nobles with him. The Danes 
were to depart from Alfred's dominion, but they were 
to have a large region in East Anglia for their own. 
For the time to come, the two nations were to live 
together as friends, and to be governed by equal laws." 
These conditions were fulfilled. King Guthrum and 
thirty men, who were the chief nobles of the army, 
were baptized. For the King, Alfred himself stood 
god-father, calling him Athelstan. Then there was a 
time of peace. Eight years afterwards there was 
another war, and Guthrum made a treaty by which 
he gave up London. 

What King Alfred did for his people during this 
quiet time it would take long to tell ; nor indeed do 
we know all for certain. He made good that which 
the Danes had destroyed. He caused the roads to be 
restored, and the bridges that had been broken down 
to be built again. Towns and cities that had been 
wasted by war he repaired, and caused the fields to 
be cultivated again. The laws that the kings before 
him had made, he considered with care, keeping such 
as seemed to him to be wise, and rejecting such as 
were not good. He built or restored many churches, 
and put clergy into them that they might teach the 
people. And because there were no learned men 



92 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

in his own kingdom, he brought such from other 
countries. Not a few books did he write with his 
own hand, for all the cares of his kingdom could not 
hinder him from study. Nor did he forget to provide, 
so far as it was possible, for the better defence of the 
kingdom. He took care that when the people were 
called together to fight against an enemy, they should 
do so quickly and in good order ; and he built better 
and swifter ships of war than had ever been known in 
England before. 

For the last eight years of his reign, the King had 
to fight many battles both by land and sea with his 
old enemies. But he had done so much in making 
both his soldiers and his ships better, that not once 
did he fail to overcome his enemies. And the kings 
that came after him, Edward the Elder, who was his 
son, and Athelstan his grandson, continued with even 
more success to drive back the Danish invaders. 
Alfred died "six nights before All-Hallow Mass," 
that was on October 26, in the year 901 (All-Hallow 
Mass is All Saints' Day), worn out with toil and sick- 
ness. All his life he had suffered grievously in his 
body. He was but fifty-two years of age. 



no IV ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT BRUNANBURGH. 93 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOW KING ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT 
BRUNANBURGH. 

Edward, surnamed the Elder, came after Alfred 
his father, and was — so men said — as good a leader in 
war and ruler in peace ; and after Edward came 
Athelstan his son. To him his grandfather Alfred 
had showed special favour, giving him a purple cloak, 
and a belt adorned with jewels, and a sword in a 
scabbard of gold. And when he grew to be a man, 
and was crowned king — this was done when he was 
thirty years old — he showed himself a very wise ruler. 
None of the kings before him had been so great, for 
all the land, both English and Welsh, acknowledged 
him to be their over-lord. 

But in the thirteenth year of his reign, the Danes, 
the Scots, and the Britons made a great league 
against him. Their leaders were Constantine, King 
of Scots, Anlaf the Dane, whose father had been 
King in Northumbria, Olaf, also a Dane, King of 
Dublin — for the Danes held Dublin in those days, and 



94 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



for many years afterwards — the King of Cumber- 
land, and not a few English who were discontented 
with their master. All these gathered a vast host in 
the north, and thither King Athelstan marched to 
meet them. 

While the armies lay, encamped over against each 
other, Anlaf the Northum- 
brian, seeking to know what 
Athelstan proposed to do, 
disguised himself as a min- 
strel, and so made his way 
into the tent of the King. 
There he played and sang, 
while Athelstan and his 
nobles sat at their meal, and 
while he seemed to be resting 
from his playing and singing, 
he listened to their talk. The 
meal ended, the King gave 
him a silver piece. This he 
buried in the earth, disdaining 
to keep that which had been 
given him as hire for service. But one who had 
been a soldier under him in former times, saw the 
Prince while he was burying the money, and knew 
him again. The man kept silence till Anlaf had 
gone back to his own camp, then he told the English 




A MINSTREL. 



HO IV ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT BRUNANBURGH, 95 

King what he had seen. " Why did you delay ? " 
said the King. " Had you been quicker, we had 
caught him." The man made answer, " Sire, the 
same oath that I have sworn to you, I swore once 
to Anlaf. If I had betrayed him, you might have 
looked for me to betray you. But now, if you will 
listen to my advice, change the place of your tent." 
The King changed it, and it was well that he did so, 
for the camp was attacked that night, and a certain 
bishop, who, being newly come thither, pitched his 
tent in the place where the King's had been, was 
slain. 

For two days more King Athelstan waited till the 
help that he looked for had come up. Then he gave 
battle to the enemy. Never, since the coming of the 
English into Britain, had there been a fiercer fight 
than was fought that day. The men of Mercia and 
the men of the West Saxons stood side by side, and 
turned the enemy to flight. Five kings of the North- 
men and seven earls fell that day, and Constantine 
fled back to his own country, and the Danes from 
Dublin, such as the sword had spared, crossed the sea 
again. 

" Full many a stalwart warrior lay 
Upon the field of death that day, 
By swarthy kite devoured, and torn 
By raven with its beak of horn, 



96 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

And lordly eagle, plumaged white, 
And hawk that follows still the fight, 
And the grey wolf, whom evening brings 
From forest depths to feed on kings." 

After this King Athelstan increased still more in 
honour and power. He ruled his people also with 
much prudence, making many wise laws. He caused 
justice to be done without fear between men, and 
made provision for the poor. 

In the year 941 he died, being then forty-six 
years of age, and was buried in the Abbey of Malmes- 
bury, to which abbe}', as to the town of Malmesbu'ry, 
he had given great gifts. To this day, the " com- 
moners " of this place enjoy certain lands which the 
King bestowed upon the townsmen for services that 
they rendered him in his wars. 



CHAPTER XHI. 

THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 

Nearly forty years after the death of the brave 
Athelstan, the kingdom of England came to a boy 
whose name was Ethelred. He was but ten years 
old when he became king, and during all his reign he 



THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 97 

and his people were in great trouble. So ill did he 
rule that men called him the " Unready." ^ Every 
year the Danes grew more and more powerful. 
Sometimes the King tried to drive them out of 
England by force of arms, but he was often defeated. 
Sometimes he bribed them by large sums of money 
to go away. They took the money and went away, 
but very soon came back again. At last he tried 
what was the very worst and most wicked way of all. 
He sent secretly to the rulers and magistrates 
throughout the kingdom that on a certain day — it 
was the 13th day of November in the year 1002 — 
"all the Danish men in England should be slain." 
These Danish men were living in peace among the 
English ; many of them had married English wives. 
On the morning of this day this evil deed was done ; 
all indeed were not killed, but many thousands were, 
and women also, and among these the sister of King 
Sweyn of Denmark. The last thing that this lady 
said was this : " My death zvill bring many wars upon 
England!^ And so indeed it came to pass. 

Year after year the Danes came and ravaged the 
land. Sometimes King Sweyn came with them, 

^ Unready does not mean what the word would mean now — 
not ready to do what he had to do at the right time — but with- 
out counsel or purpose ; that is, often changing his mind, and 
not keeping one thing steadily before him. 

H 



98 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sometimes he sent other chiefs. At last, eleven years 
after the death of his sister, he came with a fleet 
greater and more splendid than had ever been seen 
before. The beaks of the ships were of brass, and 
under the beaks were figure-heads, finely carved and 
painted, of men and bulls and dolphins. On the 
mast-heads were figures of birds and dragons to serve 
for weathercocks, and the sterns were adorned with 
golden lions. The King brought with him his son 
Canute, of whom I am to tell in this story,^ 

For six months or more King Sweyn went through 
the land with his army, doing such damage as no 
army had ever done before. The English could not 
stand up against him ; as for King Ethelred, he fled 
over the sea to France. Sweyn indeed was King of 
England, but the crown was never put upon his head, 
for on Candlemas Day he died suddenly. Of the 
manner of his death the men of the time told this 
story. I have spoken before of a certain town in the 
East country which was called St. Edmundsbury,^ 
after King Edmund. There had been built in the 
town a house for monks, in honour of the King. 
Sweyn sent messengers to say that he would burn 
both the town and the monks' house with fire, and 

^ His name is properly spelt Cnut. The Pope, it is said, 
could not pronounce this word, and changed it into Canutus. 
2 For the story of St. Edmund, see pp. 85, 86. 



>« J 



THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 99 

slay all their inhabitants, unless he should receive 
a great ransom for their lives. And when the people 
of the town sent to the King at Gainsborough, in 
the county of Lincoln, praying that he would not 
ask so great a sum of money, for that they were 
not able to pay it, he said the same things again 
with greater violence. When he had spoken, it 
seemed to him that King Edmund suddenly ap- 
peared in the midst of the council, no man seeing 
him except himself, and that he thrust him through 
with a spear of gold that he carried in his hand. 
Men said also that before he died he sent for his 
son Canute, and bade him rule England prudently 
and justly. 

The Danes chose Canute to be King, but the 
English were not content that a foreigner should 
reign over them, and sending to Ethelred, where he 
was in France, prayed him to come back. So Ethel- 
red returned, and marching into the East country 
where Canute still was, compelled him to take to his 
ships and sail away. The next year he came back 
with more ships and men than before, and there was 
war again till Ethelred died. Thereupon Canute 
was crowned King by command of an assembly that 
met at Southampton, but Ethelred's son, Edmund, 
who was called Ironside by reason of his valour, was 
also crowned in London. 



loo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Canute sailed up the Thames, having a fleet of 
more than three hundred ships. When he came to 
London he found that he could not pass the bridge,^ 
so strongly was it held against him. Thereupon he 
caused a canal to be dug on the south side of the 
river, and by this took some of his ships to the other 
side of the bridge. But when he tried to take the 
town, the citizens beat him back from the walls, 
killing many of his men. 

After this the two Kings met in battle at Sherston.^ 
Edmund put his best and bravest warriors in the 
front line, and he himself took his place in front of 
all, for none was better or braver than he. All day 
long the two armies fought, neither winning the 
victory. That night they rested on the field of battle, 
and on the morrow, when the day dawned, they 
fought again. And now the English began to drive 
back their enemies, when there went through the 
army the report that King Edmund had been slain. 
It was a traitor that set the report about. When 
King Edmund heard it, he mounted to the top of a 
hill, and taking off his helmet, showed himself to the 
people, that they might see that he was yet alive. 
It is said also that seeing the traitor who had first 

1 There was then but one bridge over the river. Probably it 
stood at the same place where London Bridge now is. 
'-^ In Wiltshire, near Malmesbury. 



THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. loi 

told the false news, he threw his spear at him. He 
indeed warded it off with his shield, but it pierced 
the man that stood by his side, and wounded two 
others also, so great was the strength of the Iron- 
side. 

Seven times in that year did Edmund fight with 
Canute, and the last and fiercest fight of all was at 
Assandun. Canute made as if he would get to his 
ships, and Edmund seeing this charged him sword 
in hand at the head of his men. And now again 
the English might have won the day, but that a 
traitor, the very same that had spread the false 
report of the King's death, fled from the battle with 
his followers. So their line was broken ; nevertheless 
they still held out, even till the end of the day, and 
till far into the night. Then at last Edmund the 
Ironside was constrained to leave the field. That day 
the flower of the English race perished. 

Even so King Edmund did not lose heart. He 
gathered together another army, and would have 
fought again, but that all the land was weary of the 
war. So these two, Canute and Edmund, met on 
an island in the Severn, and agreed to divide the 
kingdom between them ; Edmund was to rule the 
South, Canute the North. But before the year was 
out King Edmund died, some said of poison, and the 
whole kingdom came to Canute, for it had been 



I02 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

agreed that whoever of the two should Hve the longer, 
should have the whole. 

And now Canute the Dane set himself with all 




KING CANUTE AND HIS QUEEN. 



his heart to become a true English king. The 
traitor that had played King Edmund false was 
rightly punished for his wrong-doing. It is said that 
he even boasted to the King that he had not only 



THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 103 

deserted Edmund in the hour of need, but had also 
slain him. Thereupon the King cried out, " Therefore 
you shall die, for you are guilty of treason both to God 
and to 7ner And the traitor was slain. When Canute 
was crowned King, he swore that he would do justice 
between man and man, and that he would himself be 
obedient to the laws. And this he did. So, when in 
a fit of rage he slew with his own hand one of the 
"house-carles,"^ he declared that he would pay the 
fine that was set on the shedding of blood. In those 
days when a man was slain, the slayer paid a fine 
according to the rank of the man. So the King said 
to the house-carles, " Say what fine I must pay for 
the killing of your comrade." And when they, fear- 
ing to judge the King, would not say, he fixed the 
fine for himself, making it nine times greater than 
what it should have been of right. And what the 
King did for himself, that he commanded all that 
were in authority under him to do for others. The 
poor were to be protected against the wrong-doing 
of the rich ; all men were to be judged justly but 
with mercy ; above all. Englishmen and Danes were 
to live at peace with each other, forgetting all grudges 
and injuries. 

And as he did his duty to man, so he did it also to 

1 The " house-carles " were the King's body-guard. For more 
about them, see p. 116. 



I04 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

God, judging that it was from Him that he had his 
kingdom ; this he showed in the manner that I will 
now tell. On a certain day, when he was at the very 
height of his power, he commanded that they should 
set his royal chair on the sea-shore. On this he sat, 
his courtiers standing about him. Then he spoke to 
the tide as it flowed, " Thou art my subject, and this 
land on which I have set my chair is mine ; never 
hath there been any one that refused to obey my 
bidding, and having so refused, escaped without 
punishment. I command thee therefore that thou 
come no further on to my land, and that thou pre- 
sume not to wet the garments and limbs of thy lord." 
And when the tide, rising after its wont, came up and 
had no respect to the King's command, but wetted 
his feet and his legs, then the King, leaping from 
his seat, cried aloud, ** Let all men know henceforth 
that the power of kings is an empty and foolish 
thing, and that no one is in very truth worthy to bear 
this name of King, saving Him only whose bidding 
the earth and the sea and all that in them is obey 
according to everlasting laws." After that day 
Canute would never again put his crown upon his 
head, but put it on the image of the crucified Christ. 

The King greatly honoured the clergy, and gave 
great gifts to churches and abbeys. At Assandun, 
where he vanquished King Edmund, he caused a 



THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 105 

church to be built, that was notable for being built of 
stone, for in those days they were mostly built of 
wood. On the church of St. Edmund and on many 
others he and his Queen Emma bestowed much 
wealth. Among these was the great Church or 
Cathedral of Ely. They say that one day as he 
was passing in his boat by this church he made these 
verses that follow — 

" The Ely monks sang clear and high, 
As King Canute was passing by ; 
' Row near the doors and hear them sing,' 
Cried to his knights Canute the King." 

Minstrels he loved greatly, and rewarded with gener- 
ous gifts, as will be seen from this story. Among 
those who came to his Court was a certain man from 
Iceland, where in those days poetry and learning 
greatly flourished. When the King came into the hall 
he said, " I see one here who is not of this country ; 
he has the look of a poet, yes, and of a fighter too, for 
I would sooner have him as my comrade in battle 
than any other man here." When the minstrel from 
Iceland heard these words he sang these verses — 

" To Cnut the Dane I tune my lay ; 
English and Irish own his sway, 
And many an island in the sea ; 
So let us sing his praise that he 
Be known of men in every land 
To where heaven's lofty pillars stand." 



io6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

This done he said to the King, " Suffer me to 
speak a poem that I have made in your honour." 
"You shall," said the King, "at our next meeting." 
So the next day there was a great gathering. When 
the poet from Iceland repeated his poem, the King 
highly praised it, then he took off from his head a 
Russian cap that he wore ; it was broidered with 
gold, and had golden knots to it. " Fill this with 
silver," said he to his Chamberlain, " and give it to the 
poet." This the Chamberlain would have done, but 
because there was a great crowd of men, he had to 
reach it over their shoulders. So the silver was 
turned out of the cap on to the floor. But when the 
poet stooped to pick it up, the King said, " Let it 
be ; the poor will be the better for it, and thou shalt 
not lose." 

King Canute died when he was but little more 
than forty years old. His subjects greatly lamented 
him, for never was a king who better kept his oath 
to deal truly with his people. After him came his 
two sons, Harold and Hardicanute, both of them men 
of little worth ; after them Edward, who was called 
the Confessor ; he was son of Ethelred. 



HAROLD THE EARL. 107 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HAROLD THE EARL. 

Godwin, son of Wulfnoth, was a great man in the 
days of King Canute and of King Edward. Six 
sons he had, and a daughter that was married to 
King Edward, and of these sons the second in age 
was Harold. This Harold was made Earl of East 
Anglia when he was twenty-four years of age ; his 
brothers also had Earldoms, so that Godwin and his 
sons between them ruled three fourth-parts of the 
realm of England. But after six years they fell 
under the displeasure of King Edward, for they were 
against the Normans, for whom the King had a great 
favour. As for Harold, he fled to Ireland with his 
brother Leofwine. Thence he came in the year after 
with a fleet, and landing at Porlock, which is in the 
county of Somerset, fought and won a battle with the 
people of the country. Thirty thanes, for so they 
called knights in those days, were slain, and a multi- 
tude of common men. Thence Harold, with whom 
went Leofwine, sailed to the Isle of Wight, where he 



io8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

found Earl Godwin, his father. Thence the three 
sailed eastward to Kent, and from Kent up the 
Thames to London. They lay with their ships on 
the south side of the river, and on the north side were 
King Edward's men. Earl Godwin sent an embassy 
to ask that he and his sons should be suffered to 
return. For a while the King said No, the Normans 
about him so advising, but when it was manifest that 
the people would have the Earl and his sons come 
back, he yielded, and the Normans fled for their lives. 

Thus Harold got his Earldom again, and in the 
year after, his father dying suddenly, the Earldom 
of Wessex. So he grew in power and in favour 
with the King and people. A great warrior he was, 
and tall and strong, a comely person, and of gentle 
manners. 

But, after a while, he had an unlucky adventure 
which brought him in the end great trouble. He 
took sail with certain companions, being minded, it 
would seem — for he had his dogs and hawks with him 
— to have some sport in hunting. When he had been 
a short time at sea — it was from some port in the 
English Channel that he had sailed — a storm began 
to blow, and cast his ship on the coast of France, 
near to the castle of a certain Count Guy. One of 
the fishermen of the place chanced to know him. 
This man went to the Count Guy, and said to him, 



HAROLD THE EARL. 109 

"Give me twenty pounds, and I will show you a 
prisoner who will pay you willingly twenty pounds 
for his ransom/' Thereupon the Count rode with all 
haste to the coast, and caused Harold and his com- 
panions to be seized and carried to a castle that he 
had some miles distant from the sea. But one of 
the men that waited on Harold escaped, and flying 
to William, Duke of Normandy, told him the whole 
matter, which William, for certain reasons of his own, 
was right glad to hear. 

William, as will be seen from what is said of him 
in another place, was set on winning the kingdom of 
England for himself, and he thought it a most 
fortunate thing that chance should have put the Earl 
Harold within his reach, for there was not a man 
more likely to be chosen King than he. He sent, 
therefore, with all haste to the Count, commanding 
him to bring the English prisoner that he had taken. 
This the Count, who was not a little afraid of Duke 
William, did without delay, and receiving as much as 
he had hoped to get by way of ransom, was well 
content. As for Harold, it was a bad exchange for 
him, for, as will be seen, he was likely to pay more 
for his liberty than he would have paid to Count 
Guy. The Duke indeed showed much hospitality to 
him, taking him as his companion when he went a- 
hunting, and on an expedition that he made about 



no STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

this time against the people of Brittany. There was 
no better entertainment that one man could give to 
another in those days than to give him a part in some 
fighting. But when Harold was wishful to go home, 
then Duke William showed what was in his mind. 
" I shall not let you go," he said, "till you have sworn 
to be my man, to help me to the best of your power 
so long as King Edward shall live, and to acknowledge 
me as King of England when King Edward shall 
die." This and other things Harold promised, not 
seeing in what other way he could get his liberty, 
and judging doubtless that a promise made under 
compulsion does not bind him that makes it. But 
the Duke, not forgetting that Harold might so excuse 
himself, required that he should confirm his promise 
by an oath. This Harold did not refuse to do. He 
laid his hand upon a book of the Gospels that had 
been set on what seemed to be a table, and swore 
that he would abide faithfully by his word. But 
when he had so sworn, the Duke uncovered that on 
which the book had lain, and lo ! it was a chest full 
of the bones of saints and such-like things. Then 
Harold, it is said, turned pale and trembled, seeing 
what he had done without knowing.^ 

* " Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth 
the gold?" (St. Matt, xxiii. 17). It was the Gospel that made 
the saints what they were. So we judge, but the men of those 
times thought differently about such matters. 



HAROLD THE EARL. in 

Not many months after this Harold had another 
great trouble, this time with one of his own house. 
Tostig, the brother that was next to him in age, had 
for some ten years or more been Earl of Northumbria. 
But he had abused his authority both foolishly and 
harshly. Had he been the wisest of men, his task 
had not been easy, for hs was an Englishman, and 
his people, for the most part, Danes. But he was 
hasty and violent, and would have his own will, 
whether it was just or not. Often too he would leave 
his Earldom to live at Court, where King Edward held 
him in great favour. At last, in the year 1065, Tostig 
having caused two nobles of Northumbria to be put 
to death, the people rebelled against him and drove 
him out. At first the King, who loved him well, 
was minded to bring him back, even by force. But 
Harold, having conferred with the leaders of the 
insurrection, and heard the accusations that were 
brought against Tostig, judged otherwise. So his 
Earldom was taken from Tostig, and he himself 
banished. 

And now Edward, whom men called the Confessor 
for his piety and goodness, was like to die. He had 
caused to be built a great church at Westminster, 
spending on it, so men said, a tenth part of the whole 
wealth of the kingdom. This having been finished, 
was consecrated on Innocents' Day (Dec. 28, 1065). 



,12 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The King was hindered fronn being present by his 

weakness, but he was well content to die when he knew 







AmmAWMB. m%f^ 




KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 

that the work was done. Eight days afterwards he 
was very near to his end. There were in the chamber 



HAROLD THE EARL. 113 

with him his wife, the Queen, Stigand, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, the Keeper of the palace, and Harold. 
The Archbishop asked him, " To whom do you leave 
your kingdom of England ? " Then the King stretched 
out his hand to Harold, and said, " I commend her " 
(meaning the Queen) ''and the whole nation to thy 
protection." Having said so much, and received the 
Holy Communion, he passed away. 

The next day King Edward was buried in his new 
church (where his bones remain to this day), and 
Harold was crowned King of England in this same 
place. When the Archbishop (not Stigand, as it 
should be noted, but Ealdred of York) put the crown 
upon his head, he asked of the people assembled, 
" Do you choose Earl Harold, son of Godwin, for 
your King } " All answered with a great shout, *' We 
choose him." Thereupon the Archbishop duly 
anointed him, put the crown upon his head, and the 
sword in his hand, he having first sworn that he 
would observe the laws of the kingdom. So Harold, 
son of Godwin, was made King, and had the honour 
for " forty weeks and one day " (Jan. 6 — Oct. 14). 



114 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XV. 

HAROLD THE KING. 

Not many days had passed after Harold was thus 
chosen and crowned King of England, when am- 
bassadors came from William of Normandy, demand- 
ing of him that he should fulfil the promises that he 
had made and confirmed with an oath. To them 
Harold answered, " The kingdom is not mine to give 
up ; I hold it from the people of England." William 
had not looked for any other answer, and began 
without any delay to prepare for taking the kingdom 
by force. He gathered a vast host together, as is told 
elsewhere, and Harold, on his part, prepared to resist 
him with all his might. 

While the King thus waited for the coming of the 
Normans, there reached him tidings of a great danger 
that was threatening him and his kingdom in the 
north. Earl Tostig had made alliance with Harold 
Hardrada, King of Norway, and these two had 
landed in Yorkshire, and were about to march 
southward, ravaging the country as they went, unless 
they should be hindered. So Harold set forth with- 




SAXON KING AND HIS ARMOUR-BEARER. 



ii6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

out delay, taking his house-carles with him, and 
gathering as he went such as were willing to go with 
him. These house-carles, I should say, were the 
King's own guard. His other soldiers were called 
together when they were wanted, and went back to 
their homes and their work when the need was past, 
but the carles were with the King always. There 
were some three thousand in all. By the time that 
Harold, whom I must now call the English Harold, 
had reached Yorkshire, Harold of Norway and Tostig 
had vanquished an army that the earls of the north 
led against them, and after taking York had pitched 
their camp at Stamford Bridge, which is by the river 
Derwent. Harold rode through York, where the 
people received him gladly, and went on to attack the 
enemy. On his way, it is said, he and his companions 
met Harold of Norway and Earl Tostig. Said Tostig 
to his brother, " What will you give me if I consent to 
make peace ?" "Your Earldom," said Harold, "and 
more besides, if you want it." " And what will you 
give to my ally, Harold of Norway } " " Seven feet 
of English ground for a grave, or, for he chances to 
be very tall, perchance a foot more." Tostig turned 
away, for he was ashamed to make terms for himself 
only. It is said also that Harold of Norway, who 
had stood apart while the two talked together, not 
knowing who it was that was speaking with Tostig, 



HAROLD THE KING. 117 

was angry when he heard that it was the English 
King. " Why did you let him depart unhurt ? " said 
he to the Earl. 

In the end Harold of England fell upon the enemy 
before they expected him. They had pitched their 
camp on both sides of the Derwent, the Bridge of 
Stamford joining the two. Earl Tostig's men lay on 
the side that was nearer to York. These made haste 
to escape across the bridge, and were greatly helped 
by a stout champion who held it against all the 
Englishmen. So valiantly did he fight, though he 
was one only against many, that they could not drive 
him from his place, till some one going under the 
bridge thrust at him with his spear through the 
timbers, and so slew him. Then at last the English- 
men crossed the bridge. While this was doing, 
Harold of Norway put his men in array. Very fierce 
was the fight that followed ; but in the end both the 
King of Norway and Earl Tostig were killed, and 
with them a certain Irish king who had leagued him- 
self with them, hoping to get plunder from English 
folk. Nor did many of the army escape, for they 
were twenty miles and more from their ships, and all 
the country was raised against them, and had no fear 
of them now that they were beaten men. 

Nevertheless, they whom Harold of Norway had 
left to guard the ships escaped with their lives. They 



ii8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had made a strong earthwork round the ships (which 
may be seen to this day near to Riccall on the river 
Ouse), and Harold the King judged it best not to 
attack them, knowing that he could not take the 
place without great loss of men. So he offered them 
conditions of peace, namely, that they should depart 
unharrried, but should first swear that they would 
never come back to England as enemies, and should 
also leave certain hostages, as pledges of their good 
faith. This they did, and so departed, carrying with 
them the dead body of their king. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HAROLD THE KING (continued). 

While King Harold remained in York, to which 
city he returned after the battle, that he might rest 
himself and his army, there came a messenger from 
the south in hot haste with news that William, Duke 
of Normandy, had landed in England with a great 
host of men. This was, as near as can be judged, on 
the first day of October. Not an hour did the King 
tarry in York after he heard the news, but journeyed 



HAROLD THE KING. 119 

in haste to London, taking with him such of his 
house-carles as were still fit for service. And as 
he journeyed he sent messengers to gather fresh 
soldiers to his standard. Few, indeed, came from 
the earldoms of the north, but from the shires of the 
south there was gathered together to London, as the 
writers of the time tell us, " an innumerable multitude 
of Englishmen." With these he marched to meet the 
army of the Normans, and pitched his camp on a hill 
that was then called Senlac, but now Battle, in memory 
of the great fight that was then fought. As for the 
Normans, they lay at Hastings, which was about six 
miles distant from Senlac Hill. 

But first it should be told what the King's brothers, 
Gurth and Leofwine, would have had him do, and 
how he answered them. " Let us go," they said, 
" and meet Duke William : we have made no promise 
and taken no oath to him, and can therefore fight 
with a free conscience. And if we are beaten, then 
he will have to deal with you, so that all will not be 
lost by one battle. Also you should lay waste all the 
country between the sea and London, that the Nor- 
mans may find nothing wherewith to feed themselves 
and their horses." But Harold refused their counsel. 
" I myself will meet William of Normandy," he said ; 
" and I will not lay waste any fields of Englishmen." 

On the fourteenth day of October, about nine 



I20 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

o'clock in the morning, the great battle began. King 
Harold had made his post on Senlac Hill as strong 
as he could, with a ditch and a triple palisade. In 




SAXON SPEARMAN AND ARCHER. 



the middle of the line he and his two brothers with 
the house-carles took their place round the Royal 
Standard. These were armed with helmets and 
coats of mail, and had for weapon the Danish battle- 



HAROLD THE KING. 12 1 

axe. On either wing were the men who had come in 
from the southern shires, leaving the plough or the 
forge to fight for King and country. Some had 
swords and shields, but many were but ill armed, 
carrying but pikes and bill-hooks and scythes. 

Before the first line of the Normans rode a cham- 
pion, Taillefer by name, who was both a minstrel 
and a skilful man-at-arms. As he rode he sang the 
song of Roland/ and threw up his lance in the air 
and caught it again. He came close to the English 
lines, and struck down first one champion that came 
out against him, and then another, but was himself 
struck down by a third. 

The Normans were ranged in three divisions. 
William with his knights being in the middle of the 
line, advanced, as being themselves the strongest part 
of the army, against King Harold and his chosen 
men. On the left wing were the Bretons and the 
men of Poitou ; on the right the French and others. 
And in each division there were knights, and heavy- 
armed foot-soldiers, and archers. 

First of all the archers came forward, and shot a 
volley against the English line. This done, they fell 
back, not being armed for close combat. After these 
the foot-soldiers came up to the palisade, and sought 
to break through it, but in vain. And when these 

1 A great French champion who fought against the Saracens. 



122 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

could do nothing, the Norman knights themselves 
charged but could not break the English line, for 
this fought behind a defence. Man for man, too, 
the Englishmen were taller and stronger than their 
enemies. 

The first loss that the English suffered was from 
their own fault. The Bretons, coming against them 
on the left, turned and fled, and King Harold's men, 
seeing this, charged from out their defences, and pur- 
sued them down the hill. They slew, indeed, many, 
and, so fierce was their charge, drove back even the 
Norman knights. And when there went abroad a 
rumour that Duke William himself had fallen, there 
were some that thought that the battle was won. 
But when the Duke, uncovering his head, rode through 
the ranks, showing that he was yet alive, and the 
knights recovering themselves, rode forward, and the 
Bretons took courage again and ceased from flight, 
then the English sufl'ered in their turn, losing many 
before they could get back to their defences. 

After this Duke William himself, with his brothers 
Robert and Bishop Odo — a stout fighter for all that 
he was a bishop — and a great company of his knights, 
charged against the middle of the English line. Then 
great deeds of arms were done, for Gurth, thrusting 
with his spear at the Duke, wounded his horse, and 
was himself struck to the ground by a blow of the 



HAROLD THE KING. 123 

Duke's iron mace. Leofwine also was slain by a 
Norman knight. But the Englishmen, though 
troubled at the loss of these brave champions, still 
held their ground. 

Then the Normans feigned to flee, and the English- 
men left their defences to pursue them. Again, as 
before, when they had rushed out after the Bretons, 
they suffered great loss, the enemy falling upon 
them as they v/ere scattered. And, besides this, the 
palisade being left without defenders, the Normans 
were able to get within. Yet even then King Harold 
and his men stood firm. So close was their array, 
that though a man was slain, his dead body could 
not fall to the ground, but was kept up by the 
living. 

So the battle might even then have been won, or 
at least ended on equal terms for both, but that King 
Harold himself was slain. The Norman archers, by 
command of the Duke, shot a flight of arrows into 
the air, and one of these as it fell wounded the King 
in the eye. He fell at the foot of the Royal Standard, 
and there, for the life was still in him, the Norman 
knights battered him to death with many blows. 
The men that had come from the shires fled from the 
field, but the house-carles still fought where they 
stood, not asking for quarter, till all were slain. That 
day well-nigh all the nobles of the southern shires 



124 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that were able to bear arms fell with their King, and 
many priests also of high and low degree, for when 
they came to count up the slain they found not a few 
tonsured ^ heads among the English. The number of 
them that fell has never been known. Of the Nor- 
mans there were slain fifteen thousand, that is, a 
fourth part of their whole army : of the English, 
doubtless, many more. The body of the King was 
buried on the sea-shore. " He guarded the coast 
while he lived," said Duke William, " let him guard it 
still, now that he is dead." But afterwards it was 
taken away and laid in the church of the abbey 
which he had founded at Waltham in Essex. 



CHAPTER XVn 

WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 

William, who was afterwards called the Conqueror, 
was the son of a certain Robert who was Duke of 
Normandy. It was said that, having been laid when 
he was born on the floor of the room, he took firm 

1 /. e. shaven. All persons belonging to the various orders of 
the clergy were required to have a part of their heads shaven. 



WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 125 

hold of the straw that covered it — for in those days 
straw was used for carpet even by rich and noble 
people. It was thought that this was a sign that 
when he should grow up he would be a great con- 
queror, who would keep fast hold of everything on 
which he might lay his hand. 

When the boy was seven years old, his father the 
Duke called together the nobles of the country, and 
said to them, " I am resolved to journey to the 
place where our Lord Christ died and was buried. 
But because I know that this journey is full of 
dangers, I would have it settled who should be Duke 
in my place if I should die." The nobles answered 
him that it would be far better that he should stay at 
home, and do his duty in ruling his Duchy. But 
Duke Robert would not be persuaded. He was 
steadfastly resolved to go. And that it should be 
settled before he went who should succeed him all 
were agreed. Thereupon he brought before the nobles 
his young son William. " This is my son," he said ; 
"he is but little, but he will grow ; he is one of your 
own race, and he has been brought up among you." 
The Norman nobles were but ill pleased, for the boy's 
mother was nothing better than a tanner's daughter. 
Nevertheless they agreed to do as the Duke wished, 
for there was no one else whom they could agree to 
choose. Therefore they took the oaths and did 



126 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

homage to him. So Duke Robert set out, and died 
not many months afterwards on his journey. 

The nobles, though they had sworn to have the 
young WiUiam for their Duke, were but Httle disposed 
to keep their oath. All through Normandy there was 
confusion and trouble ; every man did as he pleased, 
making war upon his equals, and oppressing those 
who were below him. They slew with the sword, or 
poisoned first one and then another of the men who 
had charge of the young Duke, and more than once 
they came very near to killing the lad himself. Again 
and again did his mother's brother, Walter by name, 
save him by taking him from his castle, and hiding 
him in the cottages of the poor. 

But now he was growing up and able to take care 
of himself. So, when a certain Thurstan, by the help 
of some French soldiers, seized the castle of Falaise, 
the young William, calling all loyal Normans to his 
help, attacked him, and had it not been for the coming 
of night, would have taken the castle by storm. 
Thurstan, seeing that he could not hold the place, 
gave it up, and was suffered to depart, on condition 
that he should never return to Normandy. 

When William was about twenty years of age, all 
the nobles of Normandy made a great conspiracy 
against him. First they tried either to seize or slay 
him. It chanced that he was hunting at a certain 



WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 127 

castle of his. One night, when he had fallen into his 
first sleep, his jester burst into his room with his staff 
in his hand, and awoke him, crying out, " If you do 
not rise and fly for your life, you will never leave this 
place a living man." Thereupon the young Duke 
leapt from his bed, dressed himself in haste, and 
mounted his horse. All that night he rode for his 
life. It was moonlight, and so he could see his way. 
There was a river to be crossed, but he came to it 
where the tide was low, and so he was able to pass it 
without danger. The ford by which he crossed was 
afterwards called " The Duke's Way." At sunrise he 
came to a certain place named Rye, where there was 
a church and castle. The lord of the place was one 
Hubert, a loyal man, who had no part in the con- 
spiracy. Hubert was standing at his gate, and seeing 
the Duke ride by at full speed, called to him and 
asked why he rode at such haste. " I am flying for 
my life," said the Duke. Thereupon he ordered a 
fresh horse to be brought for him, and bade his three 
sons ride with him for a guard, not leaving him till 
they had lodged him safely in his castle at Falaise. 

And now Duke William, not having sufficient 
strength among the loyal men of Normandy to meet 
the rebels, sought help from his over-lord, Henry, King 
of the French. King Henry granted his petition, and 
gathering soldiers from his own people, marched to 



128 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



help the Duke. It was not long before the two armies, 
the King and the Duke on the one side, and the 
rebels on the other, met in battle. 

There was a certain lord among the rebels named 
Ralph. He was a powerful man, having among his 




NORMAN SOLDIERS. 



followers one hundred and twenty knights, each with 
a banner of his own. This man had sworn that he 
would smite the Duke wherever he might find him. 
But now he began to repent of what he had done. It 
seemed to him a shameful thing to stand in arms 
against his rightful lord, and all the more so because 



WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 129 

the Duke had never done him any wrong. His 
knights also urged him to return to the Duke, while 
divers of those with whom he had conspired exhorted 
him to keep faith with them, and promised him great 
reward for so doing. For some time he stood doubt- 
ful ; only he kept his men apart both from the one 
army and the other. When William saw what he 
was doing, he said to King Henry, " Those yonder 
are the men of Ralph of Tessar ; he has no grudge 
against me ; I doubt not but that they will soon be 
on my side." And so indeed it turned out, for Ralph 
took the advice of his knights. He bade them stay 
where they were, but he himself galloped across the 
field, and riding up to the Duke, struck him with his 
glove. Thus he performed his oath. Afterwards, 
when the battle was joined, he charged with his men 
against the rebels. 

Fierce was the fight that day, a battle of knights 
against knights. Nowhere was it fiercer than where 
King Henry of France fought at the head of his men. 
Twice was the King struck down from his horse, and 
each time the warrior that struck him was himself 
slain. As for the Duke, he bore himself most bravely, 
and with better fortune than the King. He slew the 
most stalwart champion of the rebels with his own 
hand. As this man rode in the front rank, as if to 
challenge any that might dare to attack him, Williann 

K 



ISO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

charged him, using, not his lance, as was constantly 
the custom, but his sword. With this he smote the 
champion such a blow between the throat and the 
chest that the man fell dead from his horse. 

Soon the rebels fled on every side. Many were 
slain in the battle, and many fell in the flight, but yet 
more perished in a flooded river which they were 
compelled to cross. The very mill-wheels, it is said, 
were stopped by the bodies of the dead. 

It was on this day that William earned for the first 
time the name of Conqueror. 

After this he sought to win for his wife, Matilda, 
daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders. It has been 
said that he courted her in a very strange fashion. 
First, for such is the story, he made his suit in a 
peaceable way through her father. Her answer was 
this : " I had sooner be a nun than the wife of a low- 
born man." When William heard this, he mounted 
his horse, and taking with him a few companions, 
rode to Bruges, in which town the lady was then 
living. He found her coming back from church, and 
leaping from his horse, seized her by the hair, and 
beat and kicked her. But when next Count Baldwin 
inquired of his daughter whether she was willing to 
take any man for a husband, she made this answer : 
" No husband will I have, except it be William the 
Norman." 



WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 131 

However this may be, it is certain that the Pope 
forbade the marriage. There was some kindred 
between the two/ and such were not permitted to 
marry except by special leave of the Pope. But 
William took no heed of the Pope's forbidding. 
Matilda became his wife ; and, after awhile, the Pope 
granted him pardon. 

There is no need to tell again what has been told 
already in the foregoing chapters ; how William, get- 
ting Harold into his possession, made him swear to be 
his man ; how he gathered together a great host, and 
coming to England, conquered King Harold in a 
great battle on the hill of Senlac. It is said that 
when he was leaping from his boat to the shore, he 
stumbled and fell. His companions were greatly 
troubled at this mishap, which seemed to them a bad 
beginning of the enterprise. He who had so great 
a thing to accomplish in England should not, they 
thought, stumble and fall so soon as he touched its 
shore. But William did not lose heart for a moment. 
Lifting up his hands, which were full of earth, he cried 
in a loud voice, " See ! I have taken possession of this 
land of England." 

The story of the battle also has been told ; but this 
may be said, that as no man had more to win in this 
same battle, so no man bore himself more bravely. 
* Strangely enough, it is not known what this kindred was. 



132 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Many a warrior did he smite to the ground with the 
great mace which he was wont to carry ; one of them 
was a brother of King Harold, one of the bravest and 
most stalwart warriors on the English side. Nor 
did he fail either in prudence, or such skill as a general 
should show. It may be said that, beyond all doubt, 
Harold and his Englishmen would have won the day 
at the battle of Senlac, had not William, Duke of 
Normandy showed himself so excellently good a 
soldier and leader. 



PART III, 

UNDER THE NORMAN KINGS AND THEIR 
SUCCESSORS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 

For one-and-twenty years did the Conqueror reign 
in England. Not a little good did he do in his new 
kingdom. First of all, so strong and resolute was he, 
he made all men, however great and powerful they 
might be, understand that they must obey the laws. 
He caused equal justice to be administered between 
man and man. He forbade all buying and selling of 
slaves. He brought not a few learned men into the 
country, caused the clergy to do their duty better, 
and greatly encouraged the building of splendid 
churches. 

Nevertheless the English people suffered many 
things at his hands. For, first, he was constrained 
to reward those who had helped him to win the 
kingdom, nor could he so reward but by spoiling 
others of goods and lands. Few indeed were the 
parishes throughout the whole country in which an 
Englishman was not dispossessed of his estate that 



136. STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

it might be given to some follower of the King.^ 
Then the English people again and again rebelled 
against him, and, being subdued, were, almost of 
necessity, severely treated. Lastly, he himself became 
more stern and more cruel, more selfish, more bent 
on having his own way and following his own 
pleasure without care or concern for others. Doubtless 
it was a good thing for England that it should have 
been conquered, even, one may say, that it should 
have been conquered by WiHiam of Normandy. 
Nevertheless it was but little of this good thing that 
came to the Englishmen of that time. 

The trouble began with the very day on which 
Duke William was crowned, to wit the Christmas of 
the year in which he came to England. Fearing lest 
the people of London, who were ill-disposed to him, 
should attack him, he posted round the Abbey of 
Westminster, in which he was to be crowned, a great 
body of Norman soldiers. At the very moment when 
the Archbishop was putting the crown upon the 

1 We know this from a survey which the King caused to be 
made of the whole country. This still exists, and is known by 
the name of Domesday Book. Among other things it gives the 
names of those who owned the land in the time of Edward the 
Confessor, and of those who then possessed it. Continually we 
find that an Englishman had been driven out to make room for 
a Norman. Again and again we find that the value of the land 
is less than it had been, that much had become "waste." 



WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 137 

King's head, asking the EngHsh that were in the 
church whether they were wilhng to have WiUiam, 
Duke of Normandy, for their king, and the people 
had answered that they were so willing, there was a 
gr^at cry outside. The soldiers had fallen upon the 
houses of the citizens, and had begun to plunder and 
set them on fire. The English that were in the church 
fled for their lives, and the Norrnans made haste to 
get their share of the spoil. So William was left 
alone in the church with the bishops and clerks. 
Still he would not have the matter delayed, and so 
was crowned. But when he swore that he would rule 
as justly as had any of the kings that had reigned 
before him, he added these words, " So that the people 
be true to me." 

Many times did the English people rise against 
their Norman King. The fiercest of all their rebel- 
lions was in Northumberland,^ and this was most 
cruelly punished. He laid waste the whole land 
from north to south, from east to west. Every house 
was burnt with all that was in it ; the stores of corn 
and hay and other food for man and beast were de- 
stroyed ; the very animals were driven into the flames 

^ By this word is meant more than the county which now 
bears the name ; it was hterally " the land north of the H umber," 
and included therefore the great county of Yorkshire, with 
Durham, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. 



138 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and burnt. For years to come the fields in many 
parts lay desolate, and the towns were without 
inhabitants. 

This land of Northumbria he laid waste in his 
anger; to another region of England, in the south,' he 
did the same for his pleasure. Of all things, that 
which William loved the best was hunting, and in 
order that he might enjoy this sport without hindrance, 
he cleared in the county of Hampshire a great space 
of land — thirty miles it was from end to end. Before 
it had been a flourishing region, fair and fertile, with 
many houses and churches. Now it was laid waste, 
given over to the beasts that the King loved to hunt.^ 
There seemed to be a curse on the place. Here one 
of the King's sons, Richard by name, was killed, 
struck by the bough of a tree, as he was hunting a 
stag ; here, as will be told in the next chapter, another 
son, William, who reigned after him, met his death ; 
here a grandson also perished by the chance blow 
from the arrow of a companion. 

As he grew to be an old man, trouble upon trouble 
came upon William ; nor had there ever been known, 
either in England or in Normandy, a darker time 
than the year in which he died. Grievous storms 
destroyed the harvest, so that many men died of 

^ This is near the New Forest, one of the most beautiful parts 
of England, so that here again good has come out of evil. 



WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 139 

hunger ; many towns with their churches were burnt, 
London among them, with its great cathedral of St. 
Paul's ; many evil deeds were done, and there were 
many wars. As for William himself, he met his 




A NORMAN KING HUNTING. 



death in a war that he waged with King Philip of 
France. They were at variance about a certain 
district on the border -of France and Normandy. The 
French King had taken possession of it, but King 
William claimed it as his own. He had been lying 



140 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sick at Rouen, the chief town of the Duchy, and had 
been angered by a foolish jest of King Philip's. 
Rising from his bed, he rode forth to take vengeance. 
He wasted all the land that was in dispute between 
him and the French King, and when he came to the 
chief town that was in it, he burnt it, churches as well 
as houses, to the ground. As he rode among the 
ruins, his horse put its foot on a piece of burning wood 
and stumbled. The King was thrown forward on the 
saddle and so grievously hurt, for he was very heavy, 
that he had to be carried home. There he lay dying 
for some weeks, and as he lay, he sorely repented him 
of his many misdeeds, confessing that he had caused 
the death of many thousands of innocent people, and 
had taken away their possessions by force from many. 
Two of his sons were with him — the eldest, Robert 
by name, had been banished. When he came to 
speak of who should have his kingdoms after him, he 
said, *' Robert must have Normandy ; it is his of right. 
As for England, I cannot give away that which is 
not mine, but my desire is, if it may be, that William, 
who has ever been faithful to me, may have it." 
Then said Henry, his youngest son, " And what dost 
thou give me, my father ? " " Five thousand pounds 
of silver from my hoard," said the King. " But what 
good shall the silver do me, if I have no place in 
which to dwell ? " The King answered, " Be patient, 



WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 141 

my son, and let thy elders go before thee." The King 
then bade William set out at once for England. 
Henry also left his father that he might make sure 
of getting his treasure. After this the King made 
provision for the building again of the churches which 
he had caused to be destroyed ; he commanded that 
the rest of his treasure should be given to the poor, 
and for the building of churches and the like uses. 
Certain rebels whom he had cast into prison he 
ordered to be released. And so, having done what 
he could to make his peace with God and man, the 
Conqueror died. 

But it was not to be that he should be buried in 
peace. As the body was being carried to the grave a 
fire broke out, and seemed likely to destroy a great 
part of the town. Most of those that followed the 
coffin left their place in the procession that they might 
save their possessions. Nor was this all. When the 
preacher had spoken of all the great deeds of the dead 
man, he said, " Let all that are here present pray for 
his soul ; let them beg that God may forgive his 
trespasses against Him ; let them forgive themselves 
anything in which he may have trespassed against 
them." 

When he had said these words, a certain knight 
stood forward and said, " On this very ground where- 
on ye now stand, once stood my father's house. This 



142 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

man, whom ye are burying here to-day, took the land 
away from him by force and against all right, and 
built this church upon it. I now claim it for my own, 
and forbid you to bury the body of this robber within 
the borders of my lawful inheritance." 

Thereupon the bishops inquired of them that stood 
by whether these things were so. When they heard 
that the man had spoken the truth, they covenanted 
with him that he should sell to them so much land as 
was needed for the grave for sixty shillings, and they 
promised that in due time they would pay him the 
full price for the whole. Thus was the Conqueror 
buried. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE RED KING. 



As the Conqueror had desired, when he lay dying, 
that his son William should have England, so it came 
to pass. Seventeen days after his father's death he 
was crowned King, having first sworn that he would 
maintain justice and mercy throughout the realm, and 
that he would duly preserve all the rights of the 
Church. He was not indeed permitted to possess 



THE RED KING. 143 

himself of this great inheritance altogether in peace. 
Some of the great nobles were ill-pleased that William 
should be King in the place of Robert the eldest son, 
who was of an easier temper, and might be ruled by 
them ; it vexed them also that a division should be 
made between Normandy and England. For these 
reasons they rebelled against King William, Robert 
also sending across the sea some soldiers to help 
them. The King thereupon resorted to the English 
for help, promising them that their taxes should be 
lighter, that the laws should be made better, and 
more justly administered. This help the people will- 
ingly gave, so that the rebellion was speedily brought 
to an end. 

But when the Red King — for so they called him 
from the colour of his hair and his face — felt that he 
was safe upon his throne, he broke all his promises. 
Never had England a king more careless of his word, 
more given to oppression, never one that had less 
regard either for God or for man. He was especially 
greedy of money, not caring by what wrong and 
injustice he got it, and spending it when got in all 
extravagant and wicked ways. Thus when a bishopric 
or an abbey became vacant by the death of its pos- 
sessor, William would not suffer any one to be elected 
or appointed, but took all the revenue for himself. In 
this way, when the good Archbishop Lanfranc, who 



144 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had crowned him, died, he kept the archbishopric 
vacant for four years, taking all the revenues for him- 
self. Only when he fell sick, believing that he was 
about to die, he repented, and gave the office to a 
certain monk, Anselm by name, who had reproved 
him for his wickedness, and exhorted him to repent. 
But when he recovered, he forgot all his good resolu- 
tions, and persevered in his evil ways till the very day 
of his death. The manner of his death was this. He 
died, as more than one of his house had died before, in 
the New Forest. He had passed a restless night, so 
disturbed by bad dreams that he called for his servants 
to watch by his bedside. 

Before the sun rose one of his attendants entered 
his chamber, and told him of a dream which a certain 
monk had had, which seemed to mean some evil that 
was to happen to the King. William laughed. " The 
man," he said, " dreams like a monk ; give him a 
hundred shillings." Nevertheless, by the advice of his 
servants, he gave up the intention that he had of 
hunting, and remained at home. But after dinner he 
changed his mind, and rode out into the Forest. Before 
long he was left alone, his companions having gone 
different ways in the pursuit of game. What hap- 
pened afterwards was never known for certain. It 
was commonly reported at the time that one Walter 
Tyrrell, shooting at a deer, struck a tree with the 



THE RED KING. 



145 



arrow, which, glancing off, wounded the King to death ; 
and that he, seeing what he had done, rode off at full 
speed to the coast, where he took ship, and sailed to 
the Holy Land. But Walter Tyrrell, when he came 
back to England, took a solemn oath that he had not 




THE KING S SHIP. 



been that day in that part of the Forest, and had not 
even seen the King. That he was murdered by some 
one seems likely, for indeed there were many that 
had reason to hate him. A peasant, passing through 
the Forest about sunset, found the King lying dead 
upon the ground, with an arrow in his breast. The 



146 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

man put the body into his cart, and carried it to 
Winchester. There it was buried the next day, in the 
Cathedral, but without prayer or hymn. 

Two good qualities the Red King had, and, as far 
as we can see, two only. He was faithful and obedient 
to his father, who regarded him more than his other 
sons. And he was brave. This story is told of him, 
that having heard that a certain noble in his dominions 
abroad had rebelled against him, he took horse forth- 
with, crying out, " Let all that love me follow." When 
he reached the coast, he found the weather very 
stormy, and the captain of the ship in which he wished 
to cross the sea was unwilling to set sail. " Hold thy 
peace, man," said William, " kings are never drowned." 



CHAPTER XX. 

THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 

The Red King was succeeded by his younger 
brother Henry, who was surnamed Beauclerc, or Good 
Scholar, for he had been better educated than princes 
commonly were in those days, knowing even some- 
thing of Latin. He did much for the better govern- 



THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 147 

ment of England. His son and heir William was 
drowned, and on his death the succession to the 
Crown was disputed between his daughter Maud and 
Stephen of Blois. Maud had married Henry V., 
Emperor of Germany, and secondly Geoffrey Plan- 
tagenet, Count of Anjou. Stephen was the son of 
Adela, daughter of the Conqueror. Then followed a 
time of great trouble, but in 1153, Stephen's son 
Eustace having died, it was agreed that Stephen 
should reign for the rest of his life, and Henry, son 
of the Empress Maud, should be king after him. 

Henry H., who already possessed Normandy and 
Maine, received with his wife Eleanor the great 
province of Aquitaine, and had more of France than 
the King of France himself. What troubles came 
from these possessions in France to him and to others 
will be seen hereafter. But the story that I have to 
tell of this King concerns the famous Thomas Becket. 

Not a few wonderful things are said to have 
happened to this Thomas while he was a boy. His 
father, who had given him over to be taught by 
certain priests who dwelt at Merton in Surrey, came 
one day to see him. When the boy was brought into 
his presence, he fell down before him, and did him 
reverence. The Prior cried out, " Foolish old man, 
what doest thou .'* dost thou fall at thy son's feet .? 
That surely he should rather do to thee." But the 



148 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

father answered — not indeed in his son's hearing — *' I 
know what I do : that boy will be great in the sight 
of the Lord." 

Once when he was at home for holiday he had 
a marvellous escape from death. There lodged with 
his father a certain knight, who spent his time in 
hunting with hawks and hounds. Thomas would 
often go with him, having a great liking for this sport, 
in which when he grew up he also spent such leisure 
as he had. One day the knight went out according 
to custom, and Thomas followed him on horseback. 
They had to cross a certain swift stream. There was 
indeed a bridge, but it was so small and narrow that 
it could be safely passed only on foot. Below this 
bridge there was a mill with a wheel, towards which 
the stream ran with a very fast current, having a 
steep bank on either side. This bridge the knight, 
intent on his sport, and careless of danger, crossed 
first on his horse, and Thomas, fearing nothing, 
followed him. But when he came to the middle of 
the bridge, suddenly his horse stumbled, and both he 
and his rider fell into the stream. Here the two were 
parted by the violence of the current, and the boy was 
carried downward, nor did there seem any hope but 
that he would be either drowned or crushed by the 
wheel. But when he was now on the brink of death, 
the man that had charge of the mill, knowing nothing 



THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 149 

of what had happened, suddenly shut off the water 
from the wheel. Meanwhile the knight and his com- 
pany were following down the stream with piteous 
cries. These the man at the mill heard, the noise of 
the wheel being stopped. Coming forth he thrust his 
hand into the water, and drew Thomas to land scarce 
breathing and but half alive. 

Thomas, growing up, obtained the favour first of 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then of the King, 
who made him Chancellor, he being then thirty-seven 
years of age.^ 

When he was Chancellor, many nobles sent their 
sons to be in his house. These he caused to be duly 
trained and taught. Some he sent back to their 
parents fit to be good and true knights, and some he 
kept with himself. The King put his own son, Henry, 
in his charge.2 

No man ever did the duties of his office more 
honestly and diligently than did Thomas. The King, 
the clergy, the nobles, and the people alike honoured 
him for his greatness of mind and his many virtues. 
With the King he had a close friendship ; and when 
business was done, they would play together like 

^ The King was Henry II., who came to the throne in 11 54, 
and made Thomas Becket his Chancellor in the year following. 

^ Henry was only an infant, for he was born in the year in 
which Becket became Chancellor. 



I50 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

two boys of the same age. They sat together in 
church, and they rode out together. One day they 
were riding together in the streets of London, the 
weather being very cold. The King saw an old man 
coming, poor, in thin and ragged clothing. Where- 
upon he said to the Chancellor, " Do you see him } " 
The Chancellor answered, " Yes, I see him." The 
King — " How poor he is, how feeble, how poorly 
clad ! Would it not be a most charitable deed to 
give him a cloak, warm and thick .-* " The Chan- 
cellor — " Verily it would ; and you, my King, 
should have care that he have it." Meanwhile the 
man came up. Said the King to him, "Wilt thou 
have a good cloak, my friend .'* " The poor man, not 
knowing who these two might be, thought that he 
jested. Then said the King to the Chancellor, 
" You shall do this great charity." And laying hold 
of the cloak which he wore — it was new, and very 
fine, of scarlet and grey — he strove to drag it from 
him. The Chancellor strove to keep it. Then 
there was a great commotion and noise, and all the 
knights rode up, wondering what this might mean, 
for the two were pulling with both their hands, 
and more than once seemed likely to fall from 
their horses. At last the Chancellor suffered the 
King to have his way, that is to pull off the cloak 
and give it to the poor man. Then the King told 



THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 151 

the story, and there was great laughter among the 
knights. 

In the third year of his office, Becket went on an 
embassy to the King of France, to make a contract 
of marriage between his King's son Henry and the 
daughter of the King of France. Never did am- 
bassador go more splendidly equipped. He had 
two hundred men on horseback, all of his own house- 
hold, knights, esquires, clerks, serving-men, and young 
nobles whom he had trained in his house. All were 
clothed as became their rank. As for Thomas, he 
had four-and-twenty changes of raiment and many 
garments of silk and fur, and robes and carpets such 
as the chamber and bed of a bishop are wont to be 
adorned with. He had also hounds and birds of all 
kinds such as kings and nobles are wont to use. He 
had light carriages, drawn each by five strong horses. 
Of these, two bore nothing but beer, " a liquor made 
of corn with water, which the French greatly admire, 
for it is clear, and of the colour of wine, but better 
in taste." In one carriage was the furniture of his 
chapel, in another that of his chamber, and in a 
third that of his kitchen. Others carried meat and 
drink and divers other goods. He had twelve horses, 
and eight chests full of gold and silver plate, and 
many clothes and books, and other matters. Each 
horse had its own groom ; under each wagon was a 



152 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

dog chained, strong enough, it was said, to overcome a 
Hon or a bear. And on the back of each horse was 
a tailed monkey. When the Frenchmen, rushing 
out of their houses, asked who this was and whose 
the train, it was answered to them, " It is the 
Chancellor of the King of the English, going on an 
embassy to the King of the French." Then said the 




BECKET MADE ARCHBISHOP. 



Frenchmen, " Marvellous is the King of the EngHsh, 
whose Chancellor goes thus grandly." Nor was he 
famous for these things only. When afterwards there 
was war between the two kings, the Chancellor had 
seven hundred knights of his own household, and 
many others. And he himself met in single combat a 
valiant French knight, and striking him down, spoiled 
him of his horse 



THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 153 

When he had been Chancellor for seven years, the 
King sent for him, and told him that he was minded 
to make him Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas 
was greatly unwilling that this should be. " I know," 
said he, " that if this be done, you will soon turn 
away your love, and regard me with the bitterest 
hatred. Already you do many things in respect of 
the Church which I like not. And now there will be 
stirred up endless strife between us." These words 
did not alter the King's purpose. Thomas, therefore, 
having been duly chosen, was made Archbishop, 
having being first ordained priest, for before this he 
was a deacon only. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 

What Thomas had said, soon came to pass, for he 
fell out with the King. It would be long to tell all 
the causes of quarrel between them, but the chief was 
this, that the King desired to put the clergy under 
the common law of England, while Becket would 
have them judged by a law of their own, or by the 



154 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Pope. Once did Becket give way, but he soon 
repented of having done so, and this made the King 
even more angry than before. At last the King 
called him to come before an assembly of the earls 
and barons of the kingdom. When these were about 
to pronounce sentence against him, he refused to 
hear. " I am your father," he said, " you are laymen 




DISPUTE BETWEEN HENRY II. AND BECKET. 

only. I will not hear your sentence." Then he arose 
from his place, and went bearing his cross to the door. 
One of the King's friends following him called out 
that he was a traitor. Thomas turned on him and 
said, " Were I a knight, mine own hands would prove 
that thou liest." He mounted his horse, and rode 
back to the monastery where he lodged, but could 
scarcely manage his horse or carry his cross for the 



THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 155 

multitude that thronged about him and asked for his 
blessing. After this he sat down to meat with a 
cheerful spirit, the chamber where he was being 
thronged with people. In the book that, according 
to custom, was read during the meal, came by chance 
the text, " When they persecute you in one city, flee 
ye to another." Hearing these words, he looked to 
one of his friends, as if taking these words to himself. 
That night he fled. Not without much toil and 
danger did he reach a place of safety. For a time he 
went afoot ; not being used to this travelling he often 
tottered and fell. His companions besought a boy 
whom they saw to hire something for the holy man 
to ride. The boy ran to the nearest village, but was 
absent so long that Thomas's companions began to 
fear that he had betrayed them. At last he came 
back leading with him an ass, which, for a bridle, had 
a wisp of hay, and lacked a saddle. Still they were 
forced to be content ; so, throwing a cloak on the 
beast, they made the holy man ride. For two miles 
he rode, then, thinking it both easier and more 
respectable to go on foot, he walked for the rest of 
the way with his companions. They passed a certain 
knight standing at the door of his house with a 
hawk upon his wrist. When he saw four men dressed 
as clerks going by, he looked at them closely, and 
said, " One of these is either the Archbishop of 



156 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Canterbury, or very like to him." To whom one of 
Thomas's companions answered, " Didst ever see 
the Archbishop of Canterbury travelling in such 
fashion ? " Some say that Thomas was in greater 
danger of being known because, as was his manner, 
he looked lovingly on the hawk. At another place 
the landlord of an inn knew him by the slenderness of 
his hands, and by the kindness with which he gave 
portions of food to the children. As for the King, he 
was greatly enraged, and not being able to harm the 
Archbishop, banished all his kindred from England. 
It would be long to tell how the quarrel went on. At 
last it seemed that the two were reconciled. Thomas 
went to meet the King, and the King ran forward 
from the crowd, and saluted him, and talked to him 
in so friendly a fashion that it might have seemed 
there had been no enmity between them. But it 
was more a show than a reality. " Trust him not," 
said the King of France, "my Lord Archbishop, 
unless he gives you the kiss of peace." And this the 
King never gave. 

After this Thomas went back to England, but he 
would not give way one jot in the matter that was in 
dispute, and he put under the ban the bishops and 
others that had held with the King. When he came 
to Canterbury the people and the clergy received him 
with all honour. From Canterbury he went to 



THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 157 

London, and there also he was most honourably 
received. 

When the King heard of these things, how that the 
bishops had been excommunicated — this the bishops 
themselves crossed the sea to tell him — and how great 
multitudes of the people went out to do honour to 
the Archbishop, he was greatly enraged. First he 
asked of the bishops, " My lords, what shall I do t " 
They answered, " It is not our part to tell you what 
must be done." But one of them said — it was the 
Archbishop of York — " My lord, as long as Thomas 
lives, you will have no peace nor quiet, nor will you 
see another good day." Then the King cried, " I 
have nourished and promoted to honour sluggish and 
wretched knaves who are faithless to their lord, and 
suffer him to be tricked in such infamous fashion by 
a base clerk." 

Four knights of the household, hearing the King 
speak, and seeing how great was his rage, agreed 
together that they would kill the Archbishop, and 
departed for England, sailing from different ports. 
These four were Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de 
Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Brito. 

Meanwhile the Archbishop had come back to 
Canterbury. On Christmas Day he preached to the 
people, taking for his text the song of the Angels 
of Bethlehem, " Peace on earth to men of good 



158 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

will." ^ At the end of his sermon he said that the time 
of his departure was at hand, and as he said this he 
wept. There was heard also throughout the church 
weeping- and wailing, while the people murmured, 
" Father, why dost thou desert us so soon .? " After- 
wards when some one said to him that there had been 
in Canterbury, among the archbishops, one martyr, 
St. Alphege,^ he answered, " It may well be that in a 
short time you will have another." Nevertheless, 
when he sat down at table with his friends, he was 
merry after his custom. 

On the fourth day after Christmas, that is the day 
following the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the four 
knights came to Canterbury. They pretended that 
they came by order of the King,^ and so had 
gathered a band of followers. It was past the dinner- 
hour when they arrived, and the Archbishop had 
risen from table, and had gone into an inner room to 
do some business. They who had waited upon the 
Archbishop were themselves dining, and invited the 

1 This is the way in which the words, " Peace on earth, and 
good will towards men," stand in the Vulgate, or Latin transla- 
tion of the Bible. 

2 St. Alphege was made prisoner when Canterbury was taken 
by the Danes in 1012. The Danes hoped that he would ransom 
himself by giving up to them the treasures of the see, but he 
refused to do so. Thereupon he was murdered. 

^ In fact the King, suspecting their purpose, had sent an order 
to stop them, and at the same time to arrest the Archbishop. 



THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 159 

knights, whom they knew as being servants of the 
King, to sit down with them. The knights refused, 
saying that they had business with the Archbishop. 
He consenting to see them, they were brought into 
the chamber where he was. They sat down without 
saluting him, and when he greeted them courteously, 
they answered him with anger. The Archbishop 
changed countenance, knowing that they had come 
for his hurt. Then Fitz-Urse, who seemed to be the 
ringleader among them, said, " We have somewhat 
to say to thee by the King's command ; shall we tell 
it here before all t " The Archbishop, knowing what 
they were about to say, answered, " These things 
should not be spoken in private, but in public." The 
doorkeeper thereupon called back those who were in 
the chamber — for the Archbishop had commanded 
them to go out. But for this the knights would have 
killed him there and then, striking him with the shaft 
of the cross, which stood by, which they afterwards 
confessed. Then said Fitz-Urse again, "The King, 
after peace had been made between him and you, 
sent you back to your see, as you desired ; now you 
have added new insults to the old, excommunicating 
those who have been on the King's side. Say, then, 
are you ready to answer for your misdeeds in the 
King's presence 1 It is for this that we have been 
sent." 



i6o S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The Archbishop. "I have had no thought of 
doing wrong to my lord the King. But it is not just 
that he should be angry because the people con:ie to 
meet me, and follow me when I go through cities and 
towns, seeing that they have been deprived of my 
presence these seven years past. Yet even now I am 
ready to satisfy him if I have done aught amiss. And 
as for the bishops, it was not I but the Pope that 
passed this sentence upon them." 

The Knight. " Nay, but it was your doing that 
he passed it. Absolve them." 

A. "I do not deny that it was of my doing; but 
those whom the Pope has bound I cannot absolve." 

The K. " It is the King's command that you depart 
forthwith from this place with all your men. There 
can be no peace with you from this day." 

A. " Cease your threats ; never again will I put the 
sea between me and my church. He that wants me 
shall find me here." 

The K. "What the King has commanded, tljat 
will we cause to be done." 

A. "If any man shall break the laws of Christ's 
Church, I will not spare him." 

The K. (springing up from their seats). "You 
have said this to the peril of your life." 

A. "Do you come to kill me? I have committed 
my cause to the Judge of all." 



THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. i6i 

Fitz-Urse. " In the King's name we command all 
that are here to hold this man, lest he should escape 
before the King shall have had full justice on his 
body." 

When he had said this they went out, but the Arch- 
bishop followed them to the door, saying, " Here shall 
ye find me." Then returning to his place, he sat 
down and comforted his people, exhorting them not 
to fear. He had not been more cheerful if they had 
come, not to kill him, but to invite him to a bridal. 
The knights quickly came back armed with swords 
and axes and other weapons. Meanwhile the doors 
of the chamber had been barred; and they, finding 
that it was not opened to their knocking, turned by a 
private way through the orchard till they came to a 
wooden partition. This they cut through with their 
axes. The servants and clerks, frightened by the 
noise, fled in all directions ; but certain of the monks 
urged the Archbishop to flee into the church. He 
refused, remembering that he had said that the 
knights should find him there. The monks then 
said that it did not become him to be absent from 
the church when Vespers were being said — for it was 
now the time for Vespers. And when he still was 
unwilling to leave the place, they laid hold of him, 
and dragged him by force, not heeding his cries that 
they should let him go, till they had brought him to 



1 62 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the church. When he came, the monks stopped 
saying Vespers, which they had begun, and ran to 
him, rejoicing that he was yet aHve. But when they 
would have shut and barred the doors, he forbade 
them. "It is not meet," he said, "to make a fortress 
of the house of prayer ; though it be not shut up, it 
is able to protect its own." When he had said this, 
the knights entered the church, having their drawn 
swords in their hands. 

All that were in the church now fled seeking 
shelter, some at the altars, some in hiding-places. 
Three only remained with the Archbishop. And 
indeed he might easily have escaped, for it was 
evening, and the crypt was at hand, in which were 
many dark recesses. Also there was a door hard by, 
and a winding stair which led to the roof of the 
church. 

The knights cried out, " Where is Thomas Becket, 
traitor to the King and realm } " When there was no 
answer, they cried again, " Where is the Archbishop t " 
At these words he came down from the winding stair, 
for he had been dragged thither by the monks, and 
said in a clear voice, " I am here, no traitor, but a 
priest ; why do you seek me } I am ready to suffer 
in His house, Who redeemed me. Far be it from me 
to flee from your swords." So speaking he turned to 
a pillar, on one side of which there was a chapel of 



the Blessed Virgin, and on the other a chapel of St. 
Benedict. 

The Knights. " Absolve those whom you have 
excommunicated." 

Archbishop. "They have not given satisfaction, 
and I will not absolve them." 

The K. " Then shall you die, and receive your 
deserts." 

A. " I am ready to die, so that I may obtain liberty 
and peace for the Church by my blood ; but in the 
name of God I forbid you to hurt my people." 

The knights laid hands on him, seeking to drag 
him out of the church, that they might kill him out- 
side, or, it may be, carry him away prisoner. But he 
clung to the pillar. Fitz-Urse laid hold on him, but 
the Archbishop called him by an ill name, and said, 
" Reginald, touch me not, you owe me subjection." 
Fitz-Urse answered, " I owe no subjection to any, 
against my fealty to my lord the King." 

Then Thomas, seeing that his hour was at hand, 
inclined his neck as one that prays, and joining his 
hands together, commended his cause and the cause 
of the Church to God, and to Saint Mary, and to 
Saint Denys. Thereupon Fitz-Urse, fearing lest he 
should be rescued by the people, leapt upon him 
suddenly, and smote him on the top of the head, 
wounding by the same blow the arm of a certain 



164 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



monk, Edward Grim by name, who was holding the 
Archbishop round the body. Another knight dealt 
him a second blow on the head, but still he stood 
firm. At the third blow, he fell on his knees and 
elbows, saying in a low voice, " In the name of Jesus, 
and the protection of the Church, I am ready to 




MURDER OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 



embrace death." Then the third knight, with a 
stroke of his sword, cut off the crown of the head, so 
that the blood and the brains together flowed out on 
the floor of the church. With the knights there was 
a certain clerk, who for his ill life was called Mauclerc.^ 
He put his foot on the dead man's neck and scattered 
both blood and brains over the pavement. When he 
^ See " Beauclerc," on p. 146. 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 165 

had done this, he called out to the others, "Knigrhts, 
let us away, this man will rise up no more." 

The King- was greatly troubled when he heard of 
what had been done. There was nothing that he 
would not do to show his grief. He even went to the 
cathedral, and kneeling down in the place where 
Becket had been slain, submitted to be scourged by 
one of the monks. King Henry died in 1 189, sorely 
troubled by the ill behaviour of his sons. 



CHAPTER XXn. 

KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 

The Crusades were expeditions undertaken by 
Christian nations at various times between the years 
1095 and 1268, for the purpose of recovering out of the 
hands of its Mahometan conquerors the city of Jeru- 
salem. The name Crusade is derived from one of the 
words which mean cross. This is in Latin crux, and in 
one kind of Old French crois, as in Modern French it 
is croix. Those who went on these expeditions were 
said to " take the cross," because they wore this as a 
badge, to show that they were going to redeem from 
the power of the unbelievers the city where Christ 
suffered on the cross. 



1 66 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

The First Crusade was announced by the Pope in 
1095. A monk called Peter the Hermit, in the 
following year, set out with a great number of men 
to the Holy Land. They were not prepared for the 
expedition, and nearly all perished before they got 
there. There were three other attempts of the same 
kind in that year, all of which failed, but in August 
1096 the real Crusade, under Godfrey, Count of 
Bouillon, set out. Nearly three years afterwards, 
Jerusalem was taken, and Godfrey was made king. 

The Second Crusade began in 1 146 and ended in 
1 149. In 1 1 87 Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, took Jeru- 
salem. To recover it again out of his hand the Third 
Crusade was resolved upon in 1188 by Henry H., 
King of England, and Philip, King of France, who 
were joined by Frederic, Emperor of Germany. The 
war with Saladin was begun by the siege of Acre. 
This was the Crusade which Richard of England 
joined soon after the death of his father, Henry H. 
(July 1 189). 

There were six other Crusades. I shall tell you 
about the ninth and last in the story of Prince 
Edward. 

When King Richard — who was called Coeur de 
Lion, or Lion's Heart — put the army which he had 
gathered together on shipboard that they might go 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE, 167 

to the Holy Land, he made rules for their good 
behaviour, and set punishments for such as should 
offjnd. These were — 

1. If a man slay his comrade on shipboard, let him 
be bound to the dead man and cast into the sea. 

2. If a man slay his comrade on shore, let him be 
bound in the same way and be buried alive. 

3. If a man draw his knife to strike another, or 
strike him so as to shed blood, let him lose his hand. 

4. If a man strike another with his open hand, let 
him be dipped three times in the sea. 

5. If a man revile another, let him pay an ounce of 
silver for each reviling. 

6. If a man be found guilty of stealing, let him be 
shaven, and boiling pitch poured on his head, and 
feathers be shaken from a pillow on the pitch, and he 
be put ashore as soon as may be, that all may know 
him for a thief. 

The King took his pilgrim's staff and scrip from the 
hands of the Archbishop of Tours. They say that 
when he leant on the staff, it immediately broke 
under him. He lingered long on his way, first in 
Sicily, and afterwards at Cyprus, to which island he 
went seeking the lady lo whom he was about to be 
married, for the ship in which she sailed had been 
carried thither by a storm. 

In the meanwhile they who had been besieging 



i68 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the city of Acre had suffered much from war and 
disease and famine. They began to besiege it on the 
22nd day of August. Six weeks or thereabouts after 




RECEIVING THE PILGRIM S STAFF. 

1 

this came Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, with a great army, 
desiring to drive away the Christians from before the 
town. A fierce battle was fought. At first Saladin 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 169 

was driven back, losing his camp, and not a few of the 
best of his soldiers, while the Christians also lost many. 
But before the day was over, Saladin recovered him- 
self and drove back the Christians in their turn to 
their camp. There the Grand Master of the Temple 
was slain with eighteen of his knights. As for 
Saladin, he lost his eldest son and his nephew, and 
many others. After this, there came fresh soldiers 
to the army of the Christians. These now fortified 
their camp, for they were in no small danger. On 
the one side was the city of Acre, with a strong 
garrison that was always prepared to sally out 
against them, and on the other side was Saladin the 
Sultan, having an army such as had never before 
been gathered together in that land, so far as any 
living man could remember. They were also in 
great need of provisions, for nothing could be 
brought to them except by way of the sea. So it 
happened that, as winter came on and the weather 
grew bad, and the number of men in the camp was 
very large, the famine was sore. A loaf that had 
been sold for one shilling before the coming of the 
new soldiers was sold for sixty, and the price of a 
horse was more than forty pounds of English money. 
Some were slain by the enemy in the siege, and some 
taken prisoners, but a greater number by far perished 
with hunger and disease. 



ijo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

At last, on the fifth day of June in the year 1191, 
King Richard sailed from Cyprus on his way to Acre.^ 
Two days after, he met on the sea, not far from the 
harbour of Beyrout, a great ship. The King, doubt- 
ing to whom it belonged, sent one of his officers in a 
boat, to inquire who commanded it. He brought 
back word that it belonged to the King of France. 
But when the King approached, he could hear no 
word of French, nor see any Christian banner or 
token. It was a very large ship, and very strongly 
built, having three great masts, and its sides covered 
with green and yellow hides.2 One of the sailors 
said that he had been at Beyrout when the ship was 
loaded, and that he had seen the cargo which had 
been put into her, namely, a hundred camel-loads of 
arms of all kinds, bows, spears, and arrows, together 
with machines for the throwing of darts and stones. 
There was also, he said, a great store of provisions, 
and a number of men, eight hundred chosen Turkish 
soldiers, and seven Saracen commanders. Besides 
these stores and men, there was, he said, a great 

1 He had been at Marseilles in the month of August the year 
before. It took at that time fifteen days to sail with a favour- 
able wind from Marseilles to Acre. Richard had wasted about 
nine months in Sicily and Cyprus, where he had been quarrel- 
ling with Christian princes. 

2 These were intended for protection against Greek fire (see 
next note), and for ornament. 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 171 

store of Greek fire,^ and two hundred deadly 
serpents. 

The King, hearing this, sent another messenger. 
This man brought back the answer that the strangers 
were men of Genoa bound for Tyre. While he was 
doubting what this contradiction might mean, one of 
the seamen confidently declared that the ship belonged 
to the Saracens. " Cut off my head, or hang me on 
a tree, if I do not prove this beyond all doubt. Send 
a galley to follow them without any word of greeting, 
and see what they will do." 

Thereupon the King sent a galley after the strange 
ship at full speed. When it came near without offer- 
ing any greeting, the sailors began to hurl arrows and 
darts at the crew. When Richard saw this, he com- 
manded that a general attack should be made upon 
it. But this was no easy matter, so well was the 
strange ship manned, and with such force did the 
missiles fall upon the Christians, being hurled from a 
vessel of so great a height. Our men, therefore, 
began to falter, and to relax their efforts. The King, 
seeing this, exclaimed, " What ! will you let that ship 

1 " Greek fire," so called because it was invented and first 
used under the Greek Emperors of Constantinople, was a com- 
pound much used in warfare in the Middle Ages. One recipe 
for making it gives as the materials, sulphur, dregs of wine, 
gum, baked salt, pitch, petroleum, and common oil. These 
were to be boiled together. 



172 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

escape unharmed ? After winning so many victories, 
will you give way like cowards ? Verily you will all 
deserve to be hanged on gallows if you suffer these 
enemies to escape." 

Thus encouraged, our men leapt into the sea. 
Some of them bound the helm of the strange ship 
with ropes, so that it could no longer be steered. 
Others climbed up the sides, and scrambling over the 
bulwarks fell upon the Turks. At one time they had 
driven them into the forepart of the vessel, but others 
coming up from the hold drove the boarders back, kill- 
ing some and compelling the rest to leap overboard. 

And now the King, seeing that the ship could not 
be taken, with its stores and crew, without great loss, 
ordered his galleys to charge the enemy and pierce it 
with their beaks. Accordingly, drawing back a 
space, they drove against it with all their might, and 
pierced its sides with their iron beaks. The ship was 
stove in and began to sink. Thereupon the Turks 
leapt into the water, where many were slain and 
many drowned. But the King spared some thirty- 
and-five of them, namely the officers, and such as 
were skilled in the managing of engines of war. All 
the others perished ; all the stores were lost, and the 
serpents were drowned. Verily, if that ship had got 
into the harbour of Acre, the town would never have 
been taken. 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 173 

Certain Saracens, who had been watching what 
took place from the hills, carried the news to Saladin 
the Sultan. He, in his rage, plucked the hairs out of 
his head, crying, " Now I have lost Acre." Through 
all the hosts of the Saracens there was great weeping 
and wailing, for in that ship all the flower of their 
youth had perished. 

The next day King Richard came to Acre. When 
the news of his coming reached the garrison they 
began to talk of giving themselves up, for they knew 
how great a warrior he was. Saladin too was willing 
to make peace, and he sent to the two kings — for the 
King of France was there also — pears of Damascus, 
an abundance of other fruits, and other presents. He 
would willingly have made peace with them, but 
Richard was resolved to have Jerusalem given to him, 
and this Saladin would not do. 

At this time a certain Christian sent messages, 
written in Greek and Latin and Hebrew, from within 
the walls, from which the besiegers learnt much about 
the counsels of the enemy, but who this Christian was 
they did not know, either then or after the taking of 
the town. 



T74 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE {continued). 

The besiegers were greatly encouraged by the 
coming of King Richard. "This is the man," they 
said, " for whom we have waited so long. Now that 
he is come, the assault will speedily be made, for he 
is the best of all the warriors in Christendom." But 
their hopes were delayed for a time by the sickness 
which came upon him a few days after his coming. 
This sickness held him for ten days or more. The 
King of France also suffered from the same, as did 
others in the host. The Count of Flanders was so 
ill that he died. 

As soon as the King of France was recovered of his 
sickness, he busied himself with setting up engines of 
war in such places as seemed best. There he kept 
them at work day and night. To one of these engines, 
that was of great power, he gave the name of " The 
Bad Neighbour." The Turks within the city had one 
with which they answered this, calling it " The Bad 
Kinsman." Often did they destroy King Philip's 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 175 

engine, but it was as often repaired. At last it broke 
down a great part of the chief wall of the city, and 
shattered also a certain tower which was called the 
"Accursed Tower." The Duke of Burgundy had 
also an engine, as had the Knights of the Temple, 
and the Knights of the Hospital of St. John, with 
which they did very great damage to the Turks. 

Besides all these, there was a stone-sling which was 
called " God's Stone-sling." Near to this a certain 
priest preached continually, begging money for its 
repairing, and for paying those who gathered stones 
for it. King Richard himself had two stone-slings, 
marvellously made, with which he could hit the mark 
at an incredible distance. Another engine he had 
that was called "The Belfry," covered with closely- 
fitting hides, so that it could not be burnt with Greek 
fire, nor destroyed by stones. 'Tis certain that a 
single stone discharged by one of the King's engines 
slew twelve men. This stone was sent for Salad in to 
look at. 

The King of the French had also various imple- 
ments and engines of war. One of these was a 
contrivance made of hurdles, strongly bound together, 
and covered with raw hides. Under this the KInsf 
would sit, his cross-bow in his hand, watching if any 
Turk should show himself on the walls. One day the 
Turks threw a quantity of Greek fire on to this thing, 



176 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

aiming at it at the same time with a stone-sHng. 
Between the two, it was utterly destroyed, to the great 
wrath of the King, who in his rage proclaimed, by the 
voice of a herald, a general assault for the next day. 

On that same day Saladin had declared that he 
would cross the trenches and destroy the whole army 
of the Christians. He did not keep his word, but sent 
his lieutenant in his place. Under his leading, the 
Turks attacked the trenches with great fury, and were 
as firmly resisted by the French. The Turks, dis- 
mounting from their horses, advanced on foot. The 
two sides fought hand to hand, using swords, daggers, 
two-handed axes, and clubs furnished with iron teeth. 

Meanwhile the men that had been set by the King 
of France to make mines had reached the foundations 
of the walls, and filling the space which they had 
made with logs, set them on fire. At last the wall — 
the beams on which it rested being burnt through — 
gave way, sloping by degrees, but not falling flat. 
The Christians ran up to make their way into the 
town by this place, and the Turks, on the other hand, 
ran up, resolved to drive them back. 

In this fight a certain Alberic Clements did a very 
noble thing. Seeing that the French were labouring 
much but doing little, he cried out, "To-day I will 
either die or, with God's leave, enter Acre." There- 
upon he climbed up by the ladder to the top of the 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 177 

wall, and there stood, slaying many of the Turks, who 
rushed upon him from all sides. But when others 
sought to follow him, the ladder broke, for it could 
not bear the number of those that crowded upon it. 
Some were crashed to death, others were grievously 
wounded. As for Alberic, he was left alone on the 
wall, and there perished, pierced by wounds without 
number. 

King Richard was now so far recovered from his 
sickness that he could turn his thoughts to the taking 
of the city. He caused a shed made of hurdles 
covered with hides to be brought up to the ditch 
outside the city wall. In shelter of this he put some 
of the most skilful of his crossbow-men. He was 
himself carried to the place on silken cushions, and lay 
there using his cross-bow, with which he was very 
skilful. Many of the Saracens did he slay with his 
bolts. 

After this, that his men might be encouraged the 
sooner to make a breach in the wall, he proclaimed 
that he would give two gold pieces to every one who 
should pull a stone from the wall near to the Accursed 
Tower. This bounty he increased to three and even 
four gold pieces. Many stones did the young knights 
with their followers draw out, though the Turks 
attacked them fiercely all the while. The Turks 
themselves were in their turn assailed by the 



178 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



machines. These hurled the stones with such force 
that no armour could stand against them. 

At last, when the tower had in this way been 
brought to the ground, the King's men-at-arms 
attempted to take the town by storm. But the 




SHOOTING WITH THE CROSS-BOW. 



Turks came up in great numbers to resist them. 
At close quarters they fought with each other, hand 
against hand, and sword against sword. But as the 
English were few, and the Turks increased in number, 
the men-at-arms were compelled to retreat. Some 



KING RICHARDS CRUSADE. 179 

were slain with the sword, and not a few perished by 
the Greek fire, for the Turks used this abundantly. 

The next day the leaders of the Turks offered to 
give up the city on condition that all the garrison 
should be suffered to depart with their arms and their 
goods. The King of France was willing to accept 
the condition, but King Richard would not enter an 
empty city after so long a siege. 

Not long afterwards the city was surrendered on 
the terms that follow. The Turks should restore 
the Holy Cross, should give up such Christian 
captives as they had, and should pay a great sum of 
money for their lives, they being suffered to go 
whither they would without arms or food, and carry- 
ing nothing but their shirts. They should also 
surrender, as hostages for the due performance of 
these terms, the noblest of their number. 



i8o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
KING Richard's crusade {continued)-, the king 

OF FRANCE GOES BACK. 

After these things, the King of Fiance left the 
Crusade and went to his own country. He said that 
it was better that there should be one king rather 
than two to command the army. But some would 
have it that he went to lay hands on the possessions 
of a certain great noble that had died during the 
siege of Acre. He left a part of his troops behind 
him. 

King Richard built again and strengthened the 
walls of Acre. This done, he marched to Joppa. On 
the way Saladin made a fierce attack on his rear- 
guard, but was beaten with such loss as he had not 
suffered for forty years before. The King found Joppa 
deserted by the Saracens. There he had a narrow 
escape of his life. He walked to a garden about a 
mile from the town, and falling asleep after his walk 
was attacked by a company of the enemy. Jumping 
immediately upon his horse, which a squire was hold- 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. iSi 

ing not far away, he defended himself sturdily against 
the assailants. But he was in great danger. One of 
his attendants was taken prisoner, and another killed. 
One of the two horses, also, which had been taken 
for his use, was captured and its driver killed. The 
King fought his way through the enemy, but he left 
behind him a very costly girdle, ornamented with 
gold and precious s*tones. The horse was sent back 
by Saladin's brother. 

After this the King took a great caravan which 
was coming from Babylon with provisions and arms 
for Jerusalem. His spies brought him tidings of its 
coming ; so, taking five thousand picked men with 
him, he fell upon it as it was on its way about sunrise. 
Nearly all the soldiers that guarded it were killed, 
and three thousand camels were taken, with four 
thousand horses and mules, and an immense quantity 
of booty. 

Every battle that the King fought he won, and 
every town that he attacked he took ; but the great 
thing for which he had come on the Crusade, the 
delivering of Jerusalem out of the hand of the un- 
believers, he could not accomplish. He came near to 
the Holy City indeed, as near as the village of 
Bethany, which is but two miles away ; but the city 
itself he did not attempt to take. They say that he 
would not even look at it, since he could not deliver 



t82 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

it, as he had desired. He himself laid the blame upon 
the King of France, who had drawn back from the 
work. Nevertheless, there were some who said that 
he might have done more had he been more steady 
in his purpose, and that he was in truth weary of the 
task which he had undertaken. 

The King went back to Acre, intending to take 
ship, and so return to England. When Saladin heard 
this, he marched with all haste to Joppa, and fell 
upon the town. This he took, the garrison, and 
so many of the inhabitants as were able, taking 
refuge in the citadel. So soon as the news came 
to the King, he set out to help them. The main 
part of the army he sent by land, going himself 
with seven galleys by sea. When he came to Joppa 
he found the shore covered with enemies, and his 
knights advised him to wait till the army should 
arrive. While the council was being held, a priest 
swam out from the town to the King's ship. They 
asked him how things were in the town. He 
answered, " Many of the people have been slain by 
the unbelievers, but some have fled into the tower, 
and still hold out." When the King heard this, he 
cried, " Cursed be the man who will not follow me ! " 
and leapt into the water. Many followed him ; nor 
did the enemy on the shore wait for his coming, but 
fled, leaving the town. 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 183 

The next day King Richard led out some three 
score knights and two thousand foot-soldiers by one 
of the gates of the town. He commanded the men 
to kneel with one knee upon the ground ; they held 
with one arm a shield that covered the body, with the 
other a lance, the end of which was firmly fixed in the 
ground. Behind the hne of the kneeling men were 
the engines that cast the arrows, each with two men 
to manage it. One man put in the arrow, another 
pulled the string.^ Seven times did Saladin's horse- 
men charge the line, and seven times were they beaten 
back. Then King Richard himself charged in turn. 
Never did a warrior bear himself more bravely. He 
bore down every champion that came against him. 
He saved from captivity knights of his own army 
that had been thrown from their horses and taken 
prisoner. When the enemy surrounded him, he cut 
his way out from the midst of them. While he was 
so fighting, his horse was wounded, and Saladin's 
brother, perceiving it, sent another one for him to 
ride. 

After this day the enemy gave up the siege of 
Joppa ; but the King fell ill of a fever. So weak did he 
become, that he was content to ask for a truce, and 

1 Put rifles for engines and bayonets for spears, and the King's 
way of putting his men is a little like the "hollow square" in 
which our soldiers fight at the present time. 



1 84 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

this Saladin was willing to grant. It was agreed that 
there should be peace for three years, and Saladin 
promised that pilgrims should be suffered to visit the 
Holy Sepulchre without being harmed or hindered. 

So soon as his sickness permitted, the King returned 
to Acre and then took ship. When he was about to 
pass out of sight of the shore, he turned to it, and 
stretching out his arms said, " Most Holy Land, I 
commit thee to the care of the Almighty. May He 
grant me life, that I may return and save thee from 
the bondage of the unbeliever ! " 

After various adventures the King was thrown by 
a storm on the coast of Austria. He had put on a 
pilgrim's dress, and had suffered his beard and hair to 
grow, and so hoped to pass unknown through the 
country. He knew that the ruler of the land had no 
good-will to him, for they had quarrelled during the 
siege of Acre. He sent, therefore, his page to a neigh- 
bouring castle with a present to the prince of the 
place, asking that passports might be given to Baldwin 
and Hugh the merchant, pilgrims returning home 
from Jerusalem. The lad took with him a fine ruby, 
as a gift to the prince. When the prince saw this, 
he cried out, " This is a king's gift. It is King 
Richard himself. Tell him that he may come to me in 
peace." But the King was afraid that some evil might 
be done, and having bought horses for himself and 



KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 185 

his companions, he fled in the night. The horses 
were not sufficient for all ; eight of the company 
remained. The King and seven knights escaped. 
When they came to the dominions of the next prince 
— he was brother of him that saw the ruby — a 
Norman knight that was in the prince's service knew 
the King, and warned him of his danger. Then the 
King fled again, taking with him one knight only, and 
a lad that knew the language of the country. For 
three days they travelled, neither entering any house 
nor buying any food ; but on the fourth day, all their 
store being spent, they sent the lad to market. The 
townspeople, seeing the money that he showed, asked 
him about his master. " He is a rich merchant," said 
the lad ; " and he will be here in three days." The 
King was now ill, and could not travel. When the lad 
went again to the market, the townspeople seized 
him and tortured him till he told his master's name, 
and the place where he was. So Richard was caught, 
Leopold, Duke of Austria, taking possession of him, 
and putting him into a prison. After a while the 
Duke sold him to the Emperor of Germany, and the 
Emperor, when he had kept him in prison for more 
than a year, set him at liberty, receiving from England 
a ransom of more than ;^200,ooo. 

Richard was made prisoner on December 20, 1192, 
and set at liberty on February 4, 1194. There is a 



i86 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



very pretty story of how his favourite minstrel, Blondel 
by name, found out the place where he was kept in 




RICHARD IN PRISON ; AND RICHARD WOUNDED. 



prison. He went about singing the first bar of a song 
which the King and he had composed between them. 



MAGNA CHART A. 187 

When at last he got to Richard's prison, he sang the 
first bar as usual, and was answered by the King 
singing the second. But this story seems not to have 
been written till hundreds of years after King 
Richard's time ; and we may suppose it to be like 
the British minstrels' stories of Vortigern and King 
Arthur, partly fanciful, and partly true, for King 
Richard really was put in prison, and was fond of 
music and poetry. 

Five years after his release, Richard was shot in the 
shoulder by an archer, as he was besieging a castle in 
France. The wound was not in itself mortal, but was 
so ill treated by an unskilful surgeon that the King 
died. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MAGNA CHARTA. 



King Richard was succeeded by his brother 
John. Of all English kings he was the worst, — worse 
even than the Red King, being not only wicked, but 
weak. Yet from this weakness and wickedness there 
came, as we shall see, great good to the English 
people. 



1 88 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The chief nobles of England, seeing that no trust 
could be put in the King, and that his wrong-doing 
and oppression became worse from year to year, met 




NORMAN NOBLES. 



together at St. Edmundsbury in the county of 
Suffolk, to devise means how they might best secure 
the liberties of the people. Having agreed together 



MAGNA CHART A. 189 

Upon what things they should ask for this end, they 
also came to this resolve, that they would ask them at 
the Christmas next following, when the King should 
hold his court, to keep Christmas, as was the custom 
in those days. 

This done, they went up, one by one, to the altar, 
and took an oath that if the King should refuse the 
things for which they asked, they would make war 
upon him, nor consent to peace till he should have 
granted them. At Christmas they could not get to 
speak with him, for he knew that they meant to ask 
what he was very loth to give ; but twelve days 
afterwards they saw him and made their demands. 
After a while, it was agreed that the matter should be 
put off till Easter. 

When Easter came the King was no more willing 
to yield than he had been before. He sent mes- 
sengers to the nobles to ask them to write down their 
demands. But when he saw the paper, he cried out, 
" They might as well ask my crown of me ! Shall I 
give them liberties that would make me a slave .'* " 
But when he heard that London had gone over to the 
party of the nobles, with whom, 1 should say, was 
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, he 
thought it better to yield, though he was resolved in 
his heart to go back from his promises as soon as he 
should be able. Therefore, on the 19th day of June, 



I90 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

in the year 121 5 (being the seventeenth year of his 
reign), King John and the nobles met on an island in 
the Thames, called Runnymede,that is between Egham 
and Staines, and signed what is called the Great 
Charter. By this it was provided, among other 
things — 

1. That the Church of England should be free. 

2. That the King should not oppress the nobles, 

nor the nobles such as were under them. 

3. That London and the other cities and towns of 

the kingdom should enjoy the freedom which 
they had before possessed. 

4. That causes of law should be tried in a fixed 

place. 

5. That weights and measures should be the same 

everywhere. 

6. That the King should not sell, or refuse, or 

postpone the doing of justice. 

7. That every free man should be safe both for his 

person and his property from all damages, 

except such as might be done by the lawful 

judgment of his equals, or by the law of the 

land. 

For all that remained of his life the King tried to 

undo what had been done by the signing of the 

Charter. He declared war against the nobles ; he 

hired soldiers from abroad to fight for him, and he 



MAGNA CHARTA. 191 

obtained from the Pope a declaration that the Charter 
was null and void. On the other hand, the nobles 
sent to the oldest son of the King of France, if he 
would come over and help them. So there was civil 
war in the country — Englishmen fighting against 
Englishmen. But about twenty months after the 
signing of the Charter the King died. He was 
marching from Lincoln to King's Lynn, which is on 
the south side of the Wash, and in crossing the Wash 
he lost his baggage with all his treasure. Not many 
days after— on October the 19th — he died, but whether 
from trouble of mind, or from poison, or from some 
natural disease, is not known for certain. As for the 
Charter, the Kings of England have often tried to set 
it aside, but have never succeeded in so doing. One 
after another they have been forced to confirm it, and 
it is the foundation of English liberty. 



192 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 

When King John died, his son Henry HI. was a 
boy of nine years old. He reigned for fifty-six years, 
longer than any English sovereign, except George HI. 
and Queen Victoria. He was married in 1236 to 
Eleanor, daughter of the Count of Provence, when 
he had been King for twenty years. 

His eldest son was born on the 1 8th day of June, 
in the year 1239, and had the name of Edward given 
to him, to the no small pleasure of the people. For 
near a hundred and fifty years the kings had had 
French names, as William and Henry and Richard 
and John. But Edward was an English name, and 
the King that bore it would be English. He grew to 
be a tall and handsome youth, a brave soldier, one 
who loved to do justice, and who kept his word. 

In his youth, while his father was alive, Prince 
Edward had many troubles. For the King was weak 
and favoured foreigners, as, for example, the kindred 
of his wife. These he put in offices of State, and 



THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 193 

handed over to their keeping the strongest castles in 
the land. After a while the nobles of the land banded 
themselves together, and compelled the King to 
banish the strangers from England, and to put the 
castles into their hands. There was also to be a 
council of twenty-four who were to manage all the 
affairs of the kingdom. The King took an oath that 
he would do these things, and abide by the agreement 
which he had made. This oath Prince Edward also 
took. 

After a while, the King, finding that the nobles had 
all the power in their hands, desired to depart from 
his agreement, but Prince Edward was not willing, for 
he was steadfast in keeping all the promises that he 
made. After much strife and contention it was 
settled that King Louis of France should be made 
judge of the whole matter, and then, having heard the 
cause of the King on the one hand and of the nobles 
on the other, should decide between them. These, 
therefore, he heard, and afterwards gave his judgment, 
which was this : " Let the agreement be annulled, and 
let the King have his castles again and his govern- 
ment as before." The nobles were greatly displeased 
at this judgment and would not accept it; but Prince 
Edward, feeling that he was now quit of his oath, took 
sides with his father, a thing which he had before 
been unwilling to do. 



194 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



And now war broke out. It was proclaimed on the 
3rd day of April, in the year 1264; and on the 13th 
day of May in that year the two armies met in battle, 
near the town of Lewes in Sussex. Simon de Mont- 
fort, who called himself Earl of Leicester, commanded 
the army of the nobles, while the army of the King 
was led by the King himself and his brother and Prince 
Edward, this last being at the right end of the line. 

It so chanced that a great company of the Lon- 
doners were ranged in that part of the line which was 
opposite to the Prince. Now some months before, 
the men of London had grievously insulted the Queen, 
the Prince's mother, pelting her with stones and mud, 
as she came up the river Thames in her barge. , The 
cause of their anger was that they blamed her more 
than any other for the favour shown to foreigners, as 
has been said before. The Prince was eager to take 
vengeance for this insult, and he charged the men 
of London with great fury, breaking their line, and 
driving them before him with much slaughter. 

But while the Prince was pursuing his enemies, 
which, indeed, he did with more zeal and fierceness 
than was expedient, Simon de Montfort, who was 
skilful as a general before all the men of his time, fell 
upon the other part of the King's army, and overcame 
it. Many fled, many were slain, and not a few were 
taken prisoners. 



THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 



195 



That ni^ht Simon de Montfort sent certain friars 
to the King with this message : " I greatly desire 
peace ; to the end that it may be made, I will set free 
all the prisoners whom I have taken. As for the 
matters that are in dispute, let us appoint six wise 
and honourable men to decide what shall be done. 




^^'V^ 



Only for a pledge let the King and Prince Edward 
give themselves into my keeping." 

When he heard this, the Prince, who had before 
desired to renew the battle on the next day, con- 
sented to become a prisoner. For a time Simon 
carried him about whithersoever he went. But after 
a while he escaped in this manner. A certain noble 



196 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

who visited him sent him as a present a very swift 
and strong horse. This on a certain day he bade a 
servant take out as if for exercise, only the man was 
to take care that wherever the Prince might be, the 
horse should be near at hand. The Prince then pro- 
posed to the m.en that were with him, watching him 
that he did not escape, that they should ride races. 
This they did, but when the horses of all were well 
tired, the servant came bringing with him the horse 
which he had in his charge. On this the Prince 
mounted and rode away, at the same time bidding 
farewell to his guards, and saying that he had had 
enough of their company. For a while they pursued 
him, but were easily outstripped. And when, having 
gone some way, they saw a party of horsemen come 
forth to greet him, they perceived that he was now 
out of their reach, and so returned to their own 
people. 

So soon as the Prince was at liberty, many left the 
side of the nobles and joined themselves to him, so 
that day by day he grew stronger and they weaker. 
At last the end came about in this manner. The 
Prince came by surprise on the army which Earl 
Simon's son was leading to the help of his father. 
He and his men should by right have taken up their 
abode in the Castle of Kenilworth, but for comfort's 
sake they lodged in the village ; nor, so careless were 



THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 197 

they, did they set any guard. The Prince's men fell 
on them while they slept, for it was scarcely dawn. 
Some were slain, some taken, and many fled without 
their arms, and also in a single garment. Among 
the prisoners were twenty knights with their banners. 

Having done this, the Prince made as if he would 
march northward. But when the Earl Simon's spies 
had gone to him with this news, he turned suddenly 
to the east, and so approached before Earl Simon was 
aware. But when he had come so near that his men 
must needs be seen, he put in the front of his army 
the banners which he had taken. When Simon saw 
them, he said, knowing them to be the banners of his 
own friend, " It is well ; my son comes to my help." 
Being thus deceived, he suffered the Prince to take 
up a strong place upon a hill that was near, without 
seeking to hinder him. 

In the meanwhile one Nicholas, that was the Earl's 
barber, climbed to the top of a church-tower that was 
close by, and when he saw what had happened he 
cried out, " My lord, this is not your son's army, as 
you think, for I see in the front the Prince's banner, 
and on one side the banner of the Earl of Gloucester, 
and on the other the banner of Roger Mortimer." 
Thereupon the Earl himself v/ent up to the top of the 
tower, and when he saw them, he said, " They come 
on right skilfully ; but they have learnt it from 



198 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

me." And when, looking further, he saw how many- 
there were of them, and how he must needs be sur- 
rounded, he said again, " The Lord have mercy on 
our souls ! our bodies belong to the Prince." His son 
would have had him flee while he had yet time, but 
the old man was not willing. " Far be it from me," 
he said, '' so to end an honourable life ! " There was 
no hope of victory ; not only was the Prince's army 
by far the stronger, but the greater part of Earl 
Simon's men fled when they saw the enemy approach. 
He, with many nobles and knights about him, stood 
firm, and for some time Prince Edward, for all that 
he could do, could not break the line. But when the 
Earl of Gloucester came upon him from behind, there 
was an end of the battle. Earl Simon himself was 
killed, as were most of his comrades and followers ; 
few were spared that day, for the hatred between the 
two parties that fought was very bitter, as it always 
is in civil war. King Henry himself, who was with the 
Earl's army, was at one time in no small danger, 
being attacked by his son's soldiers. Not till he 
cried out, " I am Henry of Winchester," did they 
leave him alone. 

And now the Prince set himself to establish peace 
and order throughout England. Those that had 
taken part with Earl Simon were punished with 
fines ; but none were put to death, for Edward was 



THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 199 

always inclined to mercy. But when the civil war 
was ended, much still remained to be done. In 
many parts of the country there were men who had 
taken occasion by the late troubles to plunder their 
neighbours. It is said that the Prince, having heard 
of one of these, named Adam Gordon, who had his 
hiding-place in part of the New Forest, went to seek 
him. When he found him he challenged him to 
fight, bidding his followers leave them alone. Both 
were strong and skilful in arms, but at last the Prince 
w^ounded his adversary, who thereupon gave himself 
up and was pardoned. From that time this robber 
became a faithful follower of Prince Edward. 

And now, all things being quiet, the Prince be- 
thought him of a vow which he had made, namely, 
that he would make a journey to the Holy Land. It 
so happened that at this time King Louis of France 
was preparing a Crusade. He was glad to have so 
valiant and skilful a soldier wath him, and persuaded 
the Prince to join him. As for King Louis, he never 
reached the Holy Land. He and his army went to 
Tunis, in Africa, where he died of the plague, as did 
many of his soldiers. Prince Edward waited long 
for him, but at last, losing all hope of his coming, 
went with such men as he had, scarcely a thousand in 
all, to his journey's end. The town of Acre, which 
alone remained of all that had been w^on by the 



200 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Christian armies, was besieged by the Turks, and 
hard pressed. The Prince, while he waited for King 
Louis, had promised the garrison that he would help 
them, and was resolved, according to his custom, to 
keep his word. Some of his followers would have 
persuaded him to return to England, and some 
actually left him.^ But the Prince would not be 
persuaded. " Nay," said he, " to Acre I will go, 
though none but my groom go with me." Setting 
sail, he reached Acre just in time to save it from 
being taken. The garrison had agreed to surrender 
the town to the Turks on the fourth day, unless help 
should come to them before. Many Christians now 
joined the Prince's army, till he had nine thousand 
men. With these he marched to the town of 
Nazareth, and took it by storm. 

Not long after this he narrowly escaped death. 
An assassin,^ sent by the enemy, made some pretence 
of having a message for him, and so got into his tent. 
He then stabbed him three times with a dagger. 
Then the Prince leaping up threw him to the ground, 

^ Among these was his cousin Henry, son of his uncle, the 
Earl of Cornwall. He was murdered in Italy, on his way back, 
by two of the sons of Simon de Montfort. 

2 The "Assassins" were followers of a chief who was known 
as " The Old Man of the Mountain." They bound themselves 
to murder any person whom he wished to kill. Their name 
comes from the word hashishin^ which means " one who chews 
Iiashishy^ hashish being an intoxicating gum made from hemp. 



THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 201 

and killed him with his own dagger. But, though the 
wounds were not mortal, the surgeons that waited on 
the Prince could not heal them, and, fearing lest 
perchance the dagger had been poisoned, began to 
fear for his life. He saw that they whispered, and 
said, " Why do you whisper } Can I not be cured .'' 
Tell me without fear." They said, " We can cure 
you, but you must suffer great pain." ''And then 
you promise that you will cure me t " " Yes, we 
promise." " Then I put myself in your hands. Do 
with me what you will." 

Not many days after this the enemy sent mes- 
sengers to treat for peace, and the Prince, seeing that 
he had not sufficient strength to accomplish that 
for which he had come, namely, to take the city of 
Jerusalem, consented. 

Peace having been made, the Prince set out on his 
return to England. While he was on his way, he 
became King, his father having died. Everywhere 
he was received with great honour, excepting at one 
town in Burgundy. The Count of this place invited 
him to a tournament, and Edward, though he had 
been warned that some evil was meant, did not 
refuse to go. At the tournament the Count himself 
encountered the King, but, though he was very tall 
and strong, gained no advantage over him. Being 
angered at this, he threw away his sword and lance, 



202 STORIES FROM -ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and catching the King round the neck, sought thus to 
drag him from his horse. This he could not do, but 
was himself dragged from his saddle, when the King 
spurred his horse. Edward, wroth at such behaviour, 
which was contrary to the rules of a tournament, 
beat the knight as he lay upon the ground with the 
staff of his lance ; nor would he receive the Count's 
sword, when he would have submitted himself, but 
bade him give it into the hands of a man-at-arms. 
The Count's followers were much enraged by this, 
and fell upon the English. What had begun as a 
game was turned into a fight, and not a few were 
killed. Then, when the Burgundian knights had 
been driven off the field, the townspeople took up 
their cause, and wounded many of the English, nor 
would they cease till the King threatened that he 
would burn the town. 

The history of King Edward cannot be conveni- 
ently told in this place. It must be enough to say 
that he conquered Wales, which country has re- 
mained since his time a part of England, and that 
he came near to conquering Scotland, and that he 
was as wise a king as ever ruled this realm. But of 
what he did, and of what laws he made, with the 
consent of the people — for that he looked for this 
is a notable proof of his wisdom — you will read 
elsewhere. 



THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 20; 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 

Edward I. set his heart on making one kingdom 
of the island of Great Britain. First he conquered 
Wales ; and to his son Edward, who was born just 
then in the Welsh town of Carnarvon, he gave the 
title of Prince of Wales.^ Then he set himself to 
bring Scotland under his power. When it was 
doubtful who ought to be king, he was asked to 
decide, and he decided in favour of John Baliol, who 
was ready to acknowledge him as his superior. But 
the Scotch people were very unwilling to submit. 
John Baliol revolted, and Edward marched into 
Scotland, deposed him, and put English garrisons 
into the strong places. The Scotch rose against 
them under William Wallace, and defeated the 
English at Stirling (this was in 1297 A.D.) Then 
King Edward marched again into Scotland, de- 
feated Wallace at Falkirk (1298), and conquered 
the country. Wallace escaped at the time, but was 

1 " A Prmce of Wales," as he is said to have told the Welsh 
people, " who could not speak a word of English." 



204 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

betrayed seven years afterwards, and executed as a 
traitor in London. The Scotch rose again under 
Robert Bruce. Edward was about to invade the 
country a third time when he died (at Burgh-on-Sands, 
in 1307). When he was dying he entreated his son 
(afterwards Edward II.) to carry on the war. It is 
said that he commanded that his bones should be 
carried in a chest with the army, so that even after 
his death he might still be helping to carry out his 
purpose. Edward II. paid no attention to these 
requests, but gave up the expedition. For the next 
seven years Robert Bruce became more and more 
powerful, and the English weaker. King Edward 
twice invaded Scotland, but both times failed to do 
anything. He was very unlike the great king his 
father, being careless and fond of pleasure ; and thus 
all that Edward I. had gained in Scotland was lost 
by his son. So England and Scotland remained 
separate kingdoms for three hundred years more. 

The English garrison in Stirling Castle, which was 
now almost the only strong place that was held in 
Scotland for King Edward, was hard pressed by the 
Scotch. Its commander offered to give it up to the 
besiegers, if he did not receive help by Midsummer 
Day (June 24). This was in the year 1 3 14. When 
King Edward heard that the castle was in danger, 
he sent out messengers calling all the soldiers in 



THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 205 

England to meet at Berwick-on-Tweed on the nth 
day of June. Besides the English there was to be 
a great body of soldiers from Ireland. Altogether 
nearly one hundred thousand men assembled at 
Berwick. Robert Bruce had not been able to collect 
half as many. 

King Edward now marched forward to relieve the 
castle (which was about ninety miles from Berwick). 
He reached it on Sunday, the 23rd of June, one day 
before the time on which it was to surrender. Robert 
Bruce had drawn up his army in three squares ; these 
three made one line, which reached from the brook 
of Bannock to the castle. Behind them was a fourth 
division, in which were the Highlanders and the men 
of the Western Isles and Bruce's own followers. In 
front of the line he caused some pits to be dug; in 
these sharp-pointed stakes were fixed, and they were 
covered over with brushwood. 

King Edward, as soon as he came in sight of the 
castle, sent a body of cavalry which was to make a 
round, and so getting past the line of the Scottish 
soldiers, to relieve the castle. Bruce saw what was 
going on, and blamed his nephew Randolph for letting 
the English horsemen pass him. " Randolph," he 
said to him, "a rose has fallen from your crown." 
Randolph at once rode off with a body of Scottish 
cavalry, and charged the English furiously. At one 



THE BATTLE OF BANNOCI^BURN. 207 

time it seemed as if they would be too strong for 
him, and Sir James Douglas went with part of the 
second division to help him. But just as he came 
up, he saw that the English were giving way ; there- 
upon he held his soldiers back. "We will not make 
the glory of these brave men less," he said. Bruce 
himself did a gallant deed that day. An English 
knight, Sir Henry de Bohun, rode out of the English 
line, mounted on a war-horse. Bruce went out to 
meet him ; all could see that he was king by the 
crown on his helmet. He was riding on a small 
palfrey, and he was armed with a battle-axe. The 
EngHsh knight rode furiously at him with his spear 
in rest ; but Bruce avoided the stroke, and, rising in 
his stirrups as the knight passed him, struck him 
a great blow on his helmet. The battle-axe was 
shivered to pieces, but the helmet was broken in, and 
Sir Henry de Bohun fell dead to the ground. This 
happened on the day before the battle. 

Early on Midsummer Day the first line of the 
English army began to move forward ; a little behind 
came the main body, which was led by King Edward 
himself. As they advanced, they saw the whole line 
of the Scottish army kneel down. A priest was 
praying to God to help them in the battle, and all 
the soldiers kneeled as they joined in the prayer. 
" See ! " cried some of the English ; " they are 



2oS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

begging for mercy." " Yes," answered one of the 
knights, " they are begging for mercy ; but it is from 
God." And now it could be seen how well Bruce 
had chosen his place. The English army was more 
than twice as large as the Scottish ; but only a part 
of it could get near the enemy. Some of the 
divisions had nothing to do with the fighting from 
the beginning to the end of the battle. They could 
not get near enough to strike a blow. Still there 
were some who fought well. There was a body of 
archers who poured their arrows fast and thick into 
the ranks of the Scottish soldiers, and struck many 
of them to the earth. When Bruce saw what 
damage they were doing, he sent a company of 
horsemen to charge them from the side. The archers 
had no swords with which to defend themselves, and 
when they were attacked in this way, they could not 
hold their ground, but broke and fled. The English 
line first stopped, then wavered, then began to fall 
back. When Bruce saw this he led his own division 
forward. The English knights charged fiercely; but 
many of them fell into the pits. Their horses were 
lamed, and they themselves thrown. Still the Eng- 
lighmen, being brave men, and accustomed to win 
battles, held out. Then, all of a sudden, there 
appeared upon the hills what seemed to be a new 
Scottish army. They were only the servants and 



THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 209 

camp-followers ; but they had banners with them, 
and shouted like soldiers. This was more than the 
English could bear. For all that their leaders could 
do, they turned and fled. The slaughter was terrible ; 
for there had been war between the two nations for 
many years, and there were many things to avenge. 
Twenty-seven barons, two hundred knights, and 
thirty thousand men were killed that day. As for 
King Edward himself, he fled from the field of 
battle ; for sixty miles he rode almost without 
stopping, except to change his horse. When he 
reached Dunbar, he got on board ship, and went by 
sea to Berwick. The brave knight who was with him 
turned back, after seeing him safely off the field, rode 
back, charged into the middle of the enemy, and so 
was killed. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HOW KING EDWARD III. WON THE BATTLE 

OF SLUYS. 

Edward II. was murdered in 1327. For three 
years his wicked wife, Isabella of France, with her 

p 



2IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

favourite, Roger Mortimer, ruled in England. Then 
Mortimer was seized and hanged, and Edward III. 
began really to reign. About seven years afterwards 
began what is sometimes called the Hundred Years' 
War between England and France. For this war 
there were several causes. 

The King of England possessed a very large part 
of France. He did homage, indeed, for it to the King 
of France, but it was really his. The Kings of France, 
on the other hand, steadily worked to get these 
provinces into their own power ; and one of the means 
which they used was to help the Scottish people 
against England. England was trying to do with 
Scotland what the French King was trying to do with 
Anjou, Maine, and other English provinces. 

Then, again, French rovers were busy plundering 
the English coasts. The Isle of Wight suffered much 
from them ; so did Sandwich and Rye, and other 
towns on the south coast. The important port of 
Southampton was attacked by them, and part of the 
town was burnt. 

Finally, the English King, provoked by the attacks 
made on his French possessions, set up a claim to the 
Crown of France itself, and the chief pretext for this 
claim was Edward II.'s Queen, Isabella. I will 
explain how this came about. Philip IV. of France 
(1268 — 1 3 14) left three sons, Louis, Philip and Charles. 



HO IV EDWARD III. WON THE BATTLE OF SLUYS. 211 

Each of these became King in turn, but none of them 
left a son. By what was called the Salic Law, which 
was no law at all but only an old custom of the Franks 
no woman could rule in France. So when Charles IV., 
the youngest of Philip IV.'s sons, died, Philip of 
Valois succeeded him, as being the nearest male 
heir, though he was Charles's second cousin only. 
But Edward III., by the advice of his Parliament, 
claimed the French crown as son of Isabella, Charles's 
sister. He said, " Philip of Valois is second cousin 
only to the King ; I am his nephew ; so, being more 
nearly related to him, I have a better right to succeed 
him." He of course was obliged to allow that a woman 
could not succeed, not only because that was quite 
certain in itself, but also because otherwise Joan, 
daughter of Louis, Philip IV.'s eldest son, would have 
had a better right than he. But he maintained that 
though a woman could not herself succeed, her son 
might inherit, and that when the three sons were dead, 
the daughter's son had the best right. 

I will now describe the first great battle of the 
" Hundred Years' War." 

Two days before Midsummer Day in the year 1340, 
King Edward set sail with his whole fleet from the 
Thames, and made straight for Sluys, which was a 
seaport of the country called Flanders. The King 



212 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had it in his mind to help the men of Flanders against 
the French. Now at Sluys there lay more than one 
hundred and twenty large ships, and many small ones 
with them. On board of these were forty thousand 
men ; some were sailors, and others fighting men and 
archers from Picardy and Genoa. Certain knights 
commanded them, and a famous sailor whom they 
called '* Blackbeard." The King of France had com- 
manded that they should lie at anchor, waiting for 
the King of England, that they might hinder him 
from going any further. When the fleet had almost 
got to Sluys, the English saw so many masts standing 
before them that it seemed as if it were a wood. The 
King said to the captain of his ship, " What can these 
be .'' " The man answered, " I take it that this must 
be that fleet of Normans which the King of France 
keeps at sea. These are they that have done you so 
much harm, burning your good town of Southampton, 
and taking your large ship the Christopher.'' To this 
the King made answer, " I have now for a long time 
desired to meet with these men ; now, please God and 
St. George, we will fight with them. In truth they 
have done me much mischief, and I will revenge 
myself on them, if it be possible." Thereupon the 
King caused all his ships to be drawn up in line. 
The strongest he put in front, and on the wings the 
ships in which the archers were embarked. Between 



HOW EDV/ARD III. WON THE BATTLE OF SLUVS. 213 

every two vessels with archers was placed one with 
men-at-arms. Other ships, full of archers, he kept in 
reserve. These were meant to give help to any that 
might seem to need it. Besides sailors and soldiers, 
there were in the fleet many ladies from England, 
countesses, and baronesses, and wives of knights and 
gentlemen, who had come to attend upon the Queen, 
for the Queen was at this time in Ghent. To guard 
these ladies with all care, the King had appointed 
three hundred men-at-arms and six hundred archers. 
When the King and his marshal had set the fleet 
in order, they hoisted all, their sails, so that they 
might have the sun behind them, for before it had 
been shining in their faces. This they thought 
would be against them. When the Normans saw 
them tack, at first they wondered what this might 
mean. Afterwards they said, " See, they take good 
care to turn about, for they are afraid to meddle 
with us." And indeed the English had before been 
sailing straight towards them, and now changed their 
course. When the Normans knew that the King 
was on board, seeing his banner, they were very glad, 
for they were very eager to fight with him. So they 
put their vessels in order, a thing which they did well, 
being brave and skilful seamen. 

First of all they made the Christopher, a big ship 
which they had taken from the English the year 



214 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

before, fall upon the King's fleet. They had filled it 
with fighting men, and had put trumpeters on board. 
With this the battle began, very fiercely. Archers 
and crossbow-men shot with all their might at each 
other, and the men-at-arms engaged hand to hand. 
And that they might not be separated by the moving 
of the vessels, they had large grapnels, and iron hooks 
with chains, which they flung from ship to ship to 




CROSSBOW-MEN IN A BOAT. 



moor them to each other. The Christopher, which, as 
has been said, came first of all the French fleet, was 
taken again, and all in her were either killed or made 
prisoners. The English, having taken her, filled her 
with archers, and sent her against the men of Genoa. 

Never was battle fiercer and more murderous than 
this. And, indeed, fights at sea are more deadly than 
fights on land, for none can flee ; every man must stay 



THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 215 

where he is and meet his fate. From early in the 
morning until noon did the battle last. But though 
the English were hard pressed, for the enemies were 
four to one, besides being men used to the sea, in the 
end they won the victory, being somewhat helped by 
ships that came to them from the harbours on the 
coast hard by. Scarcely one of the Normans escaped 
with his life. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 



In July 1346, six years after the battle of Sluys, 
Edward III. landed at La Hogue in Normandy. 
His plan was to march eastward and join the 
Flemings (people of Flanders), who were in alliance 
with him, and who had themselves invaded France. 
He got as far as Rouen, but found there that the 
bridge over the Seine had been broken down, and 
that King Philip of France was on the opposite bank 
with a large army. Edward then marched towards 
Paris, as if he were going to attack it, and when the 
French king followed him, suddenly turned back, and 



2i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

got across the Seine. He then marched on and came 
to the river Somme. Here again all the bridges had 
been broken down. Three times he tried to cross the 
river, but in vain. At last a peasant told him of a 
ford over the river known as Blanchetaque (from the 
white stones in the bed of the river). He crossed 
by this, but not without a fight. Marching a few 
miles further on he came to a place called Crecy, 
about ten miles from the ford of Blanchetaque, which 
is between Abbeville and the sea. Here he deter- 
mined to fight, and waited for the French king, Vv-ho 
was following him with an army much larger than 
his own. For when King Edward came to Crecy, 
he said, " Let us post ourselves here ; we will not go 
further till we have seen our enemies. And indeed I 
have good reason to wait for them in this place ; for 
this is the inheritance of my mother, which was given 
to her for a marriage-portion, and I am resolved to 
defend it against my adversary King Philip." 

Here then the King pitched his camp. That 
evening — the day was Friday — he gave a supper to 
the earls and barons of his army. When they were 
gone, he fell on his knees and prayed to God that, 
if he fought with his enemies on the morrow, he 
might come out of the battle with honour. The next 
morning he and the Prince of Wales received the 
Holy Communion, as did also the greater part of his 



THE BATTLE OF CR&CY. 217 

army. After this he commanded that the army 
should be drawn up in three divisions. In the first 
he placed the young Prince of Wales/ with the Earls 
of Warwick and Oxford, and many other nobles and 
knights. In this division were about eight hundred 
men-at-arms, two thousand archers, and a thousand 
Welshmen. There were in all about eight thousand 
nine hundred men, of whom about half were archers. 

The army having been thus ordered, the King 
mounted a small white palfrey, and rode at a foot's 
pace, having a marshal on either side, throughout all 
the ranks, encouraging and entreating the army that 
they would guard his honour and defend the right. 
When he had gone through all the battalions, it was 
ten o'clock in the forenoon. He ordered that every 
rhan should have his meal, and drink a glass after. 
So the men ate and drank at their ease, sitting on 
the ground, having their bows and helmets before 
them on the ground, that they might be the fresher 
when the enemy should come. 

The King of France and his army had lodged that 
night at the town of Abbeville, so that by the time 
they came near to the English they had marched 
already six miles or more. Four knights rode on to 
see what they could find out about the English, and 
these, when they returned, counselled King Philip 
1 He was then sixteen years of age. 



2i8 STOKIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that he should advance no further that day, but 
quarter them for the night where they were. " For," 
said they, "if you will wait till the rear shall come 
up it will be late, and your men will be weary, but 
the enemy will be fresh and in good order. Take 
then your own time, and be sure that they will wait 
for you." This counsel seemed good to King Philip, 
and he commanded that it should be done accordingly. 
So the marshals rode, one to the front, and the other 
to the rear, crying, "Halt, banners, in the name of 
God and St. Denys ! " The front indeed halted, but 
the rear pushed forward, saying that they would not be 
behind any. And when the front saw this, then they 
advanced also, and neither the King nor the marshals 
coirld stop them. So the army marched on till they 
came within sight of the English. Then the front 
ranks fell back, to the no small fear of them that 
were behind, who thought that the fighting had 
already begun. As for the confusion and bad order- 
ing of the French, no one could say how great it 
was, who did not see it. 

The English, on the other hand, when they saw 
their adversaries approach, stood up from the ground 
on which they were sitting without fear, and fell into 
their ranks. The first so to do was the Prince's 
division, having the archers in front and the men-at- 
arms in the rear. On either wing was a part of the 



THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 219 

second division, drawn up to give him help, if it 
should be needed. As for the third division, with 
which was the King himself, it was the hindermost 
of all. So the English stood in good order, but the 
French came on just as it seemed good to them, each 
man going his own way. 

When the King of France first saw the English, his 
blood began to boil, and he cried to his marshals, 
"Order the Genoese forward and begin the battle." 
These Genoese carried cross-bows, and they were 
some fifteen thousand in number. But they were 
very weary, for they had marched eighteen miles 
that day, clad in armour and carrying their cross- 
bows. They told the Constable of France, " We are 
not in fit condition to do much this day." There- 
upon he cried out, " This is what one gets by employ- 
ing such scoundrels, for when there is most need of 
them, then they fall off." About this time there was 
a very heavy rain, with thunder and lightning. Also 
there was an eclipse of the sun ; and before the rain 
a great cloud of crows was seen to hover over the 
two armies, making at the same time a great noise. 
Then the sun shone out, but so that the Frenchmen 
had it in their faces, and the Englishmen on their 
backs. The Genoese being by this time somewhat 
in order, approached the English, and set up a loud 
shout, with which they thought to frighten their 



220 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

adversaries. But the English stood still and took no 
heed. Then the Genoese shouted again and came a 
little forward ; but the English never moved. A 
third time they cried out, holding their cross-bows 
forward, and began to shoot. Then the English 
archers also advanced, taking one step forward, and 
shot their arrows with such force and quickness that 
one had thought it snowed. When the Genoese felt 
the arrows piercing through heads and arms, and 
through their armour, many of them cut the strings of 
their cross-bows and cast them on the ground and 
fled. When the King of France saw them flying, he 
cried, " Slay these rascals, for they do but hinder us." 
Then the men-at-arms dashed in among them, and 
slew many of them ; and all the \vhile the Enghshmen 
shot where the press was thickest ; the men-at-arms 
and their horses were pierced with the arrows, and 
fell in the midst of the Genoese ; nor when they had 
fallen could they recover themselves ; so thick, of a 
truth, was the press that they overthrew each other. 
The Welshmen also went on foot with their long 
knives among the men-at-arms, and slew many, both 
earls and knights and squires, a thing at which King 
Edward was afterwards much displeased, for he had 
sooner that they had been taken prisoners. 

In this battle was slain a very valiant man, the 
King of Bohemia. When he heard how the battle 



I 



THE BATTLE OF CRtCY. 221 

had been ordered, he asked, " Where is my son, the 
Lord Charles?" His people answered, "We know 
not, but we believe that he is fighting." (The JLord 
Charles had come to the battle, but when he saw that 
it was likely to turn against the French, he departed.) 
Then said the King, " Gentlemen, you are all my 
people, my friends, and my brethren-in-arms this 
day ; therefore, as I am blind, I beg of you that you 
will lead me so far into the battle, that I may be able 
to strike one stroke with my sword." The knights 
answered that they would forthwith lead him as 
he desired. And that they might not lose him in 
the crowd, they fastened all the reins of the horses 
together, and putting the King at their head, that he 
might have his wish, so advanced towards the enemy. 
Then the King made good use of his sword, and his 
companions also fought most gallantly. So far did 
they go with the press that they were all slain. On 
the morrow they were found upon the ground, with 
their horses all tied together. 

None fought on the side of the French more valiantly 
than the Constable of France and the Earl of Flanders. 
These two, with their companies, came to the place 
where the Prince's division stood, and fought there 
right valiantly. There too the King of France would 
fain have joined them, but could not, for there was 
a hedge of archers between him and them. 



222 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Here must be told an adventure of a certain knight 
that followed Sir John of Hainault. The King of 
France had given that day a very handsome black 
war-horse to Sir John, who mounted his own standard- 
bearer upon the beast. The horse ran away with 
its rider, and passed through the English army from 
front to rear without receiving any hurt. Then, as it 
was about to come back, it stumbled and turned the 
knight into a ditch, hurting him greatly. In truth, 
the man would have died but for his page, who had 
followed, and found him in the ditch without any 
power to raise himself out of it. This he now did 
with the page's help, and so returned safe to his own 
people, though not by the same way as that by which 
he came. He had fared worse, but that the English 
did not quit their ranks that day to make prisoners. 

Before the battle had continued any long time, a 
number of soldiers. Frenchmen, Germans, and men of 
Savoy, broke through the archers of the Prince's 
division, and came to blows with the men-at-arms. 
The Prince had been hard pressed at that time but for 
the second division, which came quickly to his help. 
But before their coming, the leaders of the Prince's 
division, seeing the danger they were in, sent a 
knight in great haste to the King, who had taken his 
stand near a windmill on a hill. The knight said, 
" Sir, the lords that are about your son are vigorously 



THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 223 

attacked by the French ; they entreat, therefore, that 
you would come to their help with your battalion, for 
if the number of the enemy should increase, they fear 
that the Prince will have too much to do." The King 
answered, " Is my son dead, or wounded, or felled 
to the ground ? " " Nay, sir," said the knight, " he 
is not so ; but he is so hard pressed by the enemy 
that he has need of your help." "Then," the King 
answered, " return to him and to them that sent 
you hither, and tell them from me that they do not 
send to me again this day, or look for my coming, so 
long as my son shall live ; tell them also that they 
suffer him this day to win his spurs,^ for I am 
determined that, if it please God, all the glory and 
honour of this day's battle shall come to him, and 
to them into whose hands I have committed him." 
The knight returned and delivered this message to 
the lords. It greatly encouraged them, and they 
repented that they had asked for help. 

As the day drew to an end, the King of France 
had but sixty men with him. Then Sir John of 
Hainault, who before this had given him a fresh 
horse, when that on which the King rode had been 
slain with an arrow, said to him, " Sir, retreat while 
you have the chance ; do not expose yourself thus 
to danger; if you have lost the battle to-day, yet 
^ The sign of a knight's rank. 



224 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

another day you will be conqueror." So saying, he 
laid his hand on the bridle of the King's horse, and 
led him away by force ; for this was not the first time 
that he had begged him to retreat. 

By this time the Frenchmen were altogether in 
confusion, and their army broken up into small bands, 
which wandered up and down without any leader, 
and falling in with the English, were mostly de- 
stroyed. The English did not stir from their place 
to pursue or to take prisoners ; but when, about the 
time of vespers,^ they heard no more shouting or 
crying, or voices of men calling to their lords, they 
considered that they had won the victory. As it grew 
dark, they made great fires and lighted torches. King 
Edward, who all that day had not put on his helmet, 
then came down from his post, and, with his whole 
battahon, advanced to the Prince of Wales. He took 
him in his arms and kissed him, saying, " Sweet son, 
God give you grace to go on as you have begun ; you 
are my son, for you have acquitted yourself well this 
day ; you are worthy to be a king." Thereat the Prince 
bowed very low, humbling himself before his father. 

That night the English offered thanksgiving to 
God, for that He had given them the victory ; this 
they did without any rioting, for the King had for- 
bidden all noise or riots. 

^ Evening service, about six o'clock p.m. 



THE BATTLE OF CRECY, 



225 



On the day that followed, that Is, Sunday, there was 
so great a fog that one could not see a hundred 
yards. The King sent out a company of five hundred 




EDWARD III. AND THE BLACK PRINCE. 



lances and two thousand archers to see if there were 
any bodies of French collected. This company fell 
in with a division that was coming from Abbeville to 
join King Philip, having been told that he would not 

Q 



226 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

fight before Sunday. They thought that the Enghsh- 
men must be their own countrymen, and hastened to 
join them. When they found out the truth there was 
a short fight, but the French soon turned and fled in 
great disorder. Many were slain ; indeed, had it not 
been for the fog, not one would have escaped. 

The same thing befell a company that was coming 
to the help of the French King, under the command 
of the Archbishop of Rouen. For a time they held 
their ground, for there were brave knights with them, 
but in the end were almost all slain. Many other 
bands that came from the towns round about perished 
in the same way. 'Tis said that there were slain on 
this Sunday morning four times as many men as 
had perished in the battle. 

When the King knew that the French, had no 
thought of collecting another army, he sent two 
lords, with three heralds, and two secretaries to count 
the dead. These were all the day about their work, 
coming back to the camp as the King was about to 
sit down to supper. Their report was that they had 
found eighty banners, and the bodies of eleven 
princes, twelve hundred knights, and thirty thousand 
common men. 



HOW CALAIS IVAS TAKEN. 227 



CHAPTER XXX. 

HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 

After King Edward had won the Battle of Crecy, 
he laid siege to the town of Calais, which he was 
especially desirous of taking because the inhabitants 
had been accustomed for many years to do great 
damage to English ships in the Channel. The King 
did not attack the town, for it was too strong, but he 
blockaded it, knowing that sooner or later hunger 
would compel the inhabitants to surrender, unless 
indeed the French King should come to their help, 
and of this, after winning so great a victory at Crecy, 
he had not much fear. 

First he encamped his army, building for their 
better lodgings houses of wood. These made, as it 
were, a town, being laid out in streets. Twice a week 
a market was held, where provisions and all kinds of 
merchandise could be bought, for traders came to it 
from England and Flanders. As for the Governor of 
Calais, when he saw what the King was doing, he 
sent a great number of the poorer ' people, with 



228 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

women and children, out of the town. King Edward 
suffered them to pass safely, and gave them besides 
a dinner and two shillings in money to each 
of them". 

After a while the King, finding that the people of 



BESIEGERS. 



Calais received supplies by sea, caused a large castle 
to be made, so strong that it could not be destroyed, 
and fortified it with all kinds of instruments of war. 
This he set up between the town and sea, and put in 
it a garrison of forty men-at-arms and two hundred 



HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 229 

archers. By this the harbour of Calais, was guarded 
so closely that nothing could go in or out without 
being either taken or sunk. 

Meanwhile the King of France, being very unwilling 
to lose his town of Calais, had gathered together a 
very large army — two hundred thousand men, it was 
said — for its help. But finding that he could not 
come near to the town, for King Edward had very 
skilfully guarded all the approaches, he sent certain 
nobles with this message : " Sir, the King of France 
desires to say that he has come to give you battle, 
but cannot find any means of approaching. Will you 
send some of your counsellors that they may confer 
with counsellors that he shall himself send, and choose 
some place where a battle may be fought." The 
King of England made this answer : " I have been 
here some twelve months, and have spent here some 
great sums of money ; by this time, also, I have 
accomplished so much that I must in a very short 
time be master of the town of Calais. Therefore I 
am not inclined to do what the King asks, or to 
give up that which I have gained. If he and his 
army desire to pass, they must find some way for 
themselves." 

After this two Cardinals came from the Pope, 
endeavouring to make peace. So much they ac- 
complished that four nobles of the English and as 



230 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

many of the< French met together and deHberated. 
But they could come to no agreement. In the end 
the King of France departed, and disbanded his 
army. 

The people of Calais, seeing that all hope of help 
was lost, and being hard pressed by hunger, desired 
their Governor to ask for conditions of peace. This 
the Governor did, but King Edward would grant no 
conditions whatever. " You must give up your- 
selves," he said, " to be dealt with as I will. Such as 
I please I will suffer to ransom thejns'elves, and such 
as I will I will put to death." But when the English 
nobles and knights heard this, they said to the King, 
" You set, Sire, a bad example if you put these people 
to death ; nor shall we, when you bid us go to any of 
your castles, obey you so cheerfully, fearing lest the 
King of France may deal with us in the same way, if 
we should be taken." The King answered, " I will 
not hold out against you, but on this I am resolved ; 
six of the chief citizens of Calais shall come to me 
with halters round their necks, their heads and 
feet bare, and the keys of the town and castle 
in their hands. With these I will deal as I please." 

There was great trouble in the town when this 
message was given, for how should the six be chosen } 
At last one Eustace de St. Pierre stood up and said, 
" It would be a grievous thing that the whole town 



HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 231 

should perish. I, therefore, trusting to find grace with 
God, if I die for my townsmen, offer myself as first of 
the six." Then five others offered themselves.^ 

These six, therefore, with the Governor, went to the 
King, the Governor riding on a pony because he was 
wounded. They fell on their knees before him, and 
begged for mercy. The King would not listen, but 
commanded that their heads should be cut off. In 
vain did his chief counsellors beg him to change 
his purpose, saying that his reputation would be 
greatly injured, if he should show himself so un- 
merciful. At last his wife, Queen Philippa, fell on her 
knees before him, saying, with tears, " I pray you, 
Sire, for the love that you bear for me, to have mercy 
upon these men." To her the King answered, " Ah, 
lady, I could wish that you had been in any other 
place than this to-day. Nevertheless I cannot refuse 
the thing which you ask in this way. I give you, 
therefore, these men to do with them as you please." 
Thereupon the Queen commanded that they should 
be taken to her apartments, and should be well 
clothed and fed. After this, giving to each six 
nobles, she sent them away. 

^ Four of their names are given, the other three are John 
Daire, James and Peter Wisant. 



232 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 

Philip, who was king when the Battle of Crecy 
was fought, died in 1 350, and John, his eldest son, 
succeeded him. 

In 1355 King John, hearing that the Black Prince 
had come out of Bordeaux, and had ravaged the 
country far and wide, gathered a great army, which 
he posted in such a way that the English could 
not return to Bordeaux without fighting. He made 
three divisions of his army, in each of which were 
sixteen thousand men. This done, he said to three 
of his knights, " Ride as near .to the Englishmen as 
you can; see how many there are; observe whether 
or no they are in good spirits, and find how we can 
best attack them." Then he rode himself, being 
mounted on a white palfrey, to the head of his army, 
and said thus, " You have often threatened what you 
would do to the English if you could find them. 
Now I will lead you to them, so that you can revenge 
yourselves for all the harm they have done you ; for 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 233 

be sure that we shall not now part without fighting." 
Those that heard him answered, *' Willingly will we 
meet them, God helping us." When the knights 
came back, they said, " We have seen the English, 
and find that there are two thousand men-at-arms, 
four thousand archers, and fifteen hundred footmen. 
These make one battalion only ; but they are well 
and skilfully posted." " How shall we attack them V 
said the King. The knights answered, " On foot, 
except that there should be three hundred of the 
boldest and best fighters in your army, well armed 
and well mounted, to break, if possible, the body 
of archers, for their archers are posted in front." The 
King said, " So it shall be." And he rode with 
his two marshals through the army, and chose out 
three hundred knights of the greatest repute in the 
army. Nineteen knights also were chosen who clad 
themselves in armour like the King's armour. 

When the French were just about to advance, a 
certain Cardinal came to King John, and said, *' Sir, 
you have all the flower of France with you, and the 
English are but a handful of men. It would be 
greatly to your honour if you could gain them with- 
out a battle. Let me go to the Prince and show him 
in what great danger he is." King John said, " Go, 
but make haste." So the Cardinal rode to the camp 
of the English, and spoke to the Prince, who said 
that he was ready to listen to any reasonable terms. 



234 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

All that day — it was Sunday — the Cardinal rode 
backwards and forwards between the two armies. 
But he could not bring them to an agreement, for the 
King of France would be content with nothing short 
of this, that the Prince and a hundred of his knights 
should surrender themselves ; and the Prince and his 
counsellors would not consent to any such thing. 

When the Prince saw that there would be no 
agreement, he said to his men, " We are but few 
compared to our enemies. But be not therefore cast 
down, for victory does not always go with numbers, 
but as it may please God. If we win this day, great 
will be our glory ; if we die, I have a father and 
brothers, and you have kinsmen, who will avenge our 
deaths. And now I entreat you to quit yourselves 
like men ; as for me, if it please God and St. George, 
you will see me behave myself as a brave knight." 

After this the battle began. The battalion of three 
hundred French knights that should have broken 
through the English archers, first advanced. But the 
archers, being on the sides of the lane by which they 
came, began shooting upon them so well and fast 
that their horses, smarting from the wounds made by 
the arrows, could not go forward, but turned about. 
Their riders could not manage them, but were thrown, 
and such as were thrown could not rise again, such 
was the press. Some indeed of the knights' esquires 
broke through the hedges, but, even so, they could 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 



235 



not reach, as they desired, the battalion of the Prince. 
This battalion, then, being beaten, fell back upon 
those that were behind, and these again on the 
second division, and when those in the second division 
heard what had happened, many of them mounted 




KNIGHTS IN BATTLE. 



their horses and rode off. Now the Prince had posted 
three hundred men-at-arms -and as many archers on a 
hill that was close by. This he did that they might 
be ready to fall on the second division of the French, 
if they should see occasion. And this they now did, 
seeing the division falling into confusion. And here 



236 ■ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

again the English archers did infinite service, for they 
shot so thickly and well that the French did not know 
whither to turn themselves to escape the arrows. 

When the English men-at-arms saw that the first 
division of the French was beaten, and the second 
fallen into disorder, they mounted their horses, which 
they had ready at hand. Then Sir John Chandos, 
who had been by the Prince all the day, said to him, 
" Sir, sir, now push forward, for the day is ours ; God 
will certainly put it in our hands. Let us make for 
the King of France, for the chief of the battle will be 
where he is ; I know well that his valour will not 
suffer him to fly. He will remain in our hands, if it 
so please God ; but we must do our best. You have 
said, sir, that you would show yourself a good knight 
to-day." The Prince said, "Go forward. Sir John; 
you will not see me turn my back this day, but I will 
be always among the foremost." Then he turned to 
his banner-bearer, and said, " Banner, advance ! " And 
this the knight did. Very fierce and crowded was 
the fight in that part of the field. Many a knight 
was beaten down from his horse, and if any one fell, 
he could not rise again, unless he was helped well 
and quickly. And all th*e while the English archers 
shot so well that none dared to come within reach of 
their arrows. 

And now the second division was in full flight, and 
there remained the third only, which the King of 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 2^1 

France himself commanded. A good knight did the 
King prove himself; had but a fourth part of his 
followers behaved themselves as well, he had won the 
day. Many a valiant stroke did he deal with his 
battle-axe, for it was with this that he fought and 
defended himself. But there were only a few that 
stood by him. The greater part fled as fast as they 
could, hoping to find shelter within the walls of 
Poitiers. But the men of Poitiers shut the gates of 
the town, so that there was a great slaughter on the 
causeway before the gates. In such terror were the 
French, that many gave themselves up for prisoners 
as soon as they saw an Englishman. There were 
many English archers that day that had four prisoners, 
or even five or six. As for the King, there was much 
pressing to take him ; all desired to have such a 
prisoner, and cried out to him, " Sire, surrender your- 
self, or you are a dead man." But the one that had 
the good fortune to take him was a young squire, 
Denis de Morbeque by name. He was a Frenchman 
by birth, but served the King of England, having 
been banished for killing a man in a quarrel. Chanc- 
ing now to be very near to the King, he pushed 
through the crowd, for he was very strong, and said 
to the King in good French, " Sire, Sire, give yourself 
up." The King answered, '' To whom shall I give 
myself.'* Where is my cousin the Prince of Wales.? 
If I could see him, I would speak to him." Sir 



238 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Denis said, " He is not here ; but give yourself up 
to me, and I will lead you to him." Thereupon the 
King gave him his right glove, and said, " I give 
myself up to you." Still there was much pushing, 
many crying out, " It was I that took him." 

Meanwhile the Black Prince, by the counsel of Sir 
John Chandos, had pitched his banner, that his men 
might join together again, for they were much 
scattered. The banner was placed on a high part, 
and a tent of crimson silk was pitched for the Prince. 
He took off his helmet and sat down, and his knights 
brought him some wine. Every moment the crowd 
in the place grew greater, as the knights came back 
and brought their prisoners with them. 

When his marshals came back, the Prince said to 
them, "Where is the King of France.^" They 
answered, " We do not know for a certainty ; but he 
must be killed or taken prisoner, for he has now left 
his division." Then the Prince bade two of his 
nobles take their horses and ride over the field that 
they might get certain news of him. Accordingly 
the two rode to a small hill, from which they might 
get a view of the plain. Thence they saw a crowd of 
men-at-arms on foot, which were coming towards 
them very slowly. The King of France was in the 
midst of them, and in great danger, for the English 
and the Gascons had taken him from Denis, and 
were disputing who should have him. One would 



THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 239 

bawl out, "'Tis I that have got him," and others 
would reply, " No, no ; we have him." The King 
said, " Gentlemen, take me quietly to the Prince, and 
do not make a riot about me, for I can make all of 
you sufficiently rich." The barons set spurs to their 
horses, and riding up to the crowd, asked what was 
the matter. " It is the King of France," was the 
answer ; and as many as ten knights and squires 
declared that he was their prisoner. Thereupon the 
barons commanded all to draw aside, forbidding any 
to approach, under pain of instant death, unless they 
should be called. This done, they dismounted, and 
making a profound reverence to the King, led him to 
the Prince. 

When evening was come, the Prince gave a supper 
in his pavilion to the King of France, and to the 
princes and barons who had been taken along with 
him. The Prince himself served the King's table, 
and would not sit down at it, though they urged him 
to do so. *' I am unworthy of such an honour," he 
said, "nor does it become me to sit at the table of so 
great a king, or so valiant a man as he has shown 
himself to be this day." Further he said, " Do not 
make a poor meal because God has not granted you 
your wish to-day ; my father will show you, I know, 
all honour, and will arrange your ransom reasonably. 
I think, too, that you may be tliankful that this day 
has not ended as you wished ; for you have had 



240 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

occasion to surpass all the bravest knights on your 
side. And this I say, not to flatter you, but because 
it is the judgment of all on our side that have seen 
you." At the end of this speech there were murmurs 
of praise from every one, and the French said that 
the Prince had spoken nobly and truly, and that if 
God should grant him life, he would be one of the 
most gallant princes in Christendom. 

King John was taken to England, the Prince 
giving one hundred thousand florins to be distributed 
among the barons of Gascony, who believed them- 
selves to have a share in the prisoner. He rode 
through London in great state, and was lodged in 
the Savoy Palace, and afterwards in various places, 
his abode being frequently changed for fear of an 
escape. In 1360 he returned to France, it having 
been agreed that a ransom of 3,000,000 crowns should 
be paid for him ; the value of this in English money 
being' ;^i, 125,000. Other conditions were made. 
The King found that he could not fulfil these, and he 
returned to England, where he died a few months 
afterwards. The Black Prince, who was twenty-six 
years old when he won Poitiers, died in 1376, a short 
time before his father. 



BOOK 11. 
FROM RICHARD II. TO CHARLES I. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE STORY OF WAT TYLER. 

In the year 1381 there broke out the most terrible 
rebelHon of the people against their rulers that has 
ever happened in England. There were many things 
to make them discontented. A great number of men 
had perished, and great sums of money had been 
spent, in the French wars, and all to very little or no 
good. Then the Parliament had passed laws by 
which they tried to keep the labourers, both in the 
country and the towns, from earning their proper 
wages. The fact was that a dreadful plague, which 
men called the Black Deaths had passed through the 
country,^ and swept off as much as half the popula- 
tion. Naturally, when there were fewer men to do 
the work, these fewer would be better paid for doing 
it. But this did not please their employers ; and the 
employers persuaded the Parliament, where the poor 
had no one to speak for them, to pass a law by which 
wages should be kept low. By these it was for- 
^ It came in 1348, and again in 1361 and 1369. 



244 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

bidden for any labourer to ask and for any master 
to pay higher wages than had been paid before the 
year of the Black Death.^ Often, too, the landlords 
tried to make the labourers — "villeins" as they were 
called — give so many days' work, instead of the pay- 
ment in money which they had for many years been 
accustomed to make. Then a very hateful tax, 
called the poll-tax, was laid upon the people. The 
word " poll " means head, and every one above a 
certain age was bound to pay it. True, it was pro- 
vided that the rich should pay more than the poor ; 
the Duke of Lancaster, who was the King's uncle, and 
the archbishops had to pay lO marks {£6 i^s. ^d.) 
each, while a labouring man had to pay a groat (4^.). 
But, as a matter of fact, rich and powerful people 
often paid less than their due, while the poor could 
not escape. 

It was in the month of June, 1381, that the trouble 
began, and began in several places almost at the 
same time. An officer was sent down from London 
into Essex to inquire why the tax had not been 
properly collected in that county. At the first place 
he came to the people refused to answer his ques- 

^ These " Statutes of Labourers," as they were called, were 
first passed in 1349, and were renewed several times after- 
wards. They did not do what they were wanted to do, but they 
caused angry feelings between masters and men. 



WAT TYLER. 245 

tions. Soon after one of the principal judges came to 
try them for their disobedience : they attacked him 
and his people; the judge escaped, but some of his 
clerks were killed. In a few days all Essex had 
rebelled, their leader being a priest who called himself 
Jack Straw. 

At the very same time that these things happened 
there was a rising in Kent. It began at Dartford, 
where a tax-collector was killed by a tile-maker, 
because he had behaved badly to one of the man's 
children. It spread to Gravesend, where one of the 
townspeople had been claimed as a bondsman by a 
neighbouring squire, and thrown into prison till he 
should pay ;^300 for his freedom. At Maidstone the 
rebels found a leader, Walter the tile-maker, com- 
monly called Wat Tyler. There were as many as seven 
men who followed this occupation of making tiles that 
were among the leaders of the rebellion. Wat Tyler 
was joined by a well-known priest, John Ball by 
name, who had already been punished more than 
once for speaking against the Pope, the bishops, and 
the clergy. At Canterbury the mayor and aldermen 
were compelled to swear that they would support the 
cause of the people. The whole multitude — accord- 
ing to some accounts there were as many as 100,000 
of them — marched towards London. When they 
came to Blackheath, John Ball is said to have 



246 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

preached a sermon to them, taking for his text the 
two verses — 

" When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman ? " 

Meanwhile the country-folk from Essex had posted 
themselves at Mile End, which is on the east side of 
London, and those from Hertfordshire at Highbury, 
which is on the north. But it was not these, as we 
shall see, but the men from Kent that did the most 
mischief. 

What they first did was to send a message to the 
King by a certain knight whom they had compelled 
to come with them. The knight was to tell the 
King that England had been very badly governed for 
many years by the nobles and bishops, and that the 
people desired, for his sake and their own, to have 
these things set right. They wished, therefore, that 
he should see them and hear what they had got to 
say. The knight took this message, not very will- 
ingly, and the King sent him back with this answer, 
that if they would send their leaders the next day 
down to the river, he would talk with them. 

The next day the King was rowed in his barge 
down the river as far as Rotherhithe (about three 
miles from Blackheath). The rebels had not been 
satisfied to send their leaders only ; as many as 



WAT TYLER. 



247 



10,000 men had crowded down to the river-side, and 
these raised such an uproar when they saw the King's 
barge, that the nobles who were with him were 
frightened, and advised him not to land. The barge 
was rowed up and down, and the King tried to speak 




KING RICHARD THE SECOND. 



from it ; the people, however, would not listen unless 
he landed, and this the nobles would not allow him 
to do. 

When the multitude at Blackheath heard that 
nothing had been done, they at once marched to 
London, doing much damage as they went. They 



248 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

were especially enraged against lawyers, and foreigners, 
such as were the Flemings, merchants and workmen 
from Flanders, many of whom had lately come over 
to this country. They thought that the lawyers 
made a profit out of their troubles, and that the 
Flemings took trade and work that properly belonged 
to Englishmen. The gates of London were not shut 
against them ; in fact, there were thousands of people 
in the city who wished them well, and the authorities 
did not dare to refuse them admittance. 

Perhaps the most unpopular man in the kingdom 
at this time was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
uncle to the King. A large body of the rebels, as 
soon as they got into the city, plundered and set on 
fire the Duke's palace, which was near the river, in a 
place then and still called the Savoy. The house 
and church belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of 
Rhodes were also burnt ; the people probably dis- 
liked them as being foreigners. Some houses be- 
longing to Lombard money-lenders were broken 
open. We are also told that Wat Tyler murdered 
a citizen whose servant he had once been in France, 
and by whom he had been beaten. The story does 
not look like truth, for how should a tile-maker have 
been a citizen's servant in France } 

That night the main body of the rebels remained 
in St. Catherine's Square opposite the Tower. It 



I 



WAT TYLER. 249 

was In the Tower that the King, his mother, the 
Black Prince's widow, and many of his chief coun- 
sellors were living. 

The next day the King went to talk with the people 
who had come up from the eastern counties, and who 
had assembled, as has been said, at a place called 
Mile End. He made them promises to set right the 
things of which they complained, and so satisfied 
them. He even put these promises into writing. As 
many as thirty scribes were busy all night, it is said, 
with this work. In the morning the deeds were handed 
over to the people, and they went away to their homes, 
thinking that they had obtained all that they wanted. 

Meanwhile, much mischief had been done at the- 
Tower. We do not know whether the rebels were 
permitted to enter this place, or broke into it by force. 
We can see that the King and his advisers did every- 
thing they could to please Wat Tyler and his followers, 
of whom they were greatly afraid, and they may have 
thought it a good plan to seem to trust them. Ac- 
cording to one account, the rebel leaders made their 
way through the gate as the King's party was coming 
out to go to Mile End. However this may be, they 
got in somehow, and murdered four persons, the chief 
of whom was Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury. After this they left St. Catherine's Square, 
and encamped in another large open space, where 



250 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

markets were held, known as Smithfield, and still 
called by that name. 

The next morning the King rode into London from 
Westminster, for he had been at service in the Abbey. 
It is not clear whether he intended to speak to the 
rebels, or, seeing a great gathering of them as he rode 
by Smithfield, suddenly made up his mind to do so 
He had done so well with the people at Mile End 
that he may well have hoped to pacify Wat Tyler 
and his followers. The story of what followed is thus 
told by a chronicler who lived at the time.^ 

" When Wat Tyler saw the King, he said to his 
men, ' Here is the King ; I will go and speak with 
him ; do not move from your place till I give you this 
sign,' and he moved his hand to show what he meant. 
' Then step forward and kill every one that is with 
the King, but save him alive, for he is young, and we 
can do what we please with him. We will carry him 
about England, and be masters of the whole land.' 
Then he spurred his horse to where the King was 
coming so near that his horse's head touched the 



^ Froissart, a French priest, was born in 1337. He lived in 
England for some time about the year 1361, and came again to 
this country in 1395, 2. e. fourteen years after the time of which I 
am now writing. He stayed here for three months, and during 
that time saw much of the King, and may very well have heard 
from him the story of these events. 



WAT TYLER. 251 

crupper of the King's saddle. 'King,' said he, *dost 
thou see all these people ? ' 

"'Yes/ answered the King, 'I see them. Why 
dost thou ask .? ' 

"'Because they are all under my command, and 
have sworn to do whatsoever I shall bid them.' 

" ' Well,' said the King, ' I do not blame them.' 

" * But dost thou think that all these men, and as 
many more as there are in this city under my com- 
mand, ought to go away without having your promise 
in writing to take with them } Not so ; but we will 
take the writings with us.' 

"' Nay, it has not been so ordered. Tell your com- 
panions to go to their homes, and the writings shall 
be given out village by village and town by town.' 

" When the King had thus spoken, Wat Tyler saw 
one of the King's squires against whom he had a 
grudge. The man was carrying the King's sword. 
He said to him, ' Give me thy dagger.' 

" ' Why should I give it thee } ' said the squire. But 
the King said, ' Give it to him,' and this the squire 
did, much against his will. 

" Wat Tyler said, ' Give me thy sword.' 

" * I will not,' the squire answered, ' for it is the King's 
sword, and thou art not worthy to carry it. And had 
thou and I been alone thou hadst not dared say such 
words, not for a heap of gold as high as this church.' 



252 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

For they were near to the church of St. Bartholomew, 
which still stands in Smithfield. When the Mayor of 
London, William Walworth by name, heard this, he 
rode forward, having twelve others with him, all 
wearing armour under their clothes. * How darest 
thou,' he said, 'so behave and say such words in the 
presence of the King ? ' By this time, too, the King 
had grown angry, and said to the Mayor, ' Lay hands 
on him.' 

"Meanwhile Wat Tyler said to the Mayor, 'What 
concern hast thou with my words } What dost thou 
mean } ' 

" ' I mean this,' said the Mayor, ' that it does not 
become such a rascal as thou art to say such words in 
the presence of my lord the King. Verily, if I die 
for it, thou shalt suffer for thy insolence.' With this 
he drew a sword that he had, and struck Tyler such a 
blow as brought him down from his horse. When he 
was on the ground the King's people closed round 
him, so that his followers could not see what was 
done, and one of the squires killed him. 

"When the rebels saw that their leader was dead, 
they cried out, * They have killed our captain ; let us 
slay them all.' And they came on, each man having 
his bow bent before him. 

" The King, seeing this, bade his attendants stay 
where they were, and rode forward alone. ' Gentle- 



WAT TYLER. 253 

men/ he said, 'what are you about ? You shall have 
none other captain but me. I am your king.' When 
they heard these words, such as were inclined to peace 
slunk away, but the others kept their ground, and 
seemed ready for mischief. 

" By this time the alarm had spread in the city that 
the King was in danger, and a great number of the 
citizens came out to his help. Some of the King's 
counsellors were for falling upon the rebels, but the 
King would not suffer it. * Nay,' said he, ' but go and 
ask them for their banners.' For each company had 
one of the King's banners. These they gave up. 
Then it was commanded that any man that had a 
written promise from the King should give it up 
under pain of death. This they did also, and after 
this they were suffered to depart." 

The other leaders were seized and executed, and 
many of those who had joined in the rebellion were 
put to death. None of the King's promises were 
kept, and the wrongs complained of were not set 
right. Still in the end these poor men did not suffer 
in vain. Wat Tyler's rebellion was a step towards 
English freedom. 



254 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER II. 

HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 

It would have been well for King Richard if he 
had always behaved as well as he did on the day 
when he met Wat Tyler and his men in Smithfield. 
He was then but sixteen years of age, but unhappily 
he did not grow wiser as he grew older. At one time 
he allowed himself to be led by bad advisers ; at 
another he seemed determined to have his own way, 
and was very tyrannical and unjust. One of his 
unrighteous acts was a chief cause of his fate. He 
had banished his cousin, Henry, Duke of Hereford, but 
had promised him that when Henry's father, John of 
Gaunt, should die, he should have his estates. This 
promise he did not keep. John of Gaunt died in 
1399, and the King at once seized all his property. 
Henry came to England to claim his inheritance ; 
many of the great nobles joined him ; and Richard 
when he came back from Ireland, whither he had gone 



HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 255 

a few months before, found that he was left alone. 
He surrendered himself to Henry, who declared that 
he had come to help him to govern the kingdom 
better. This was a pretence. Richard was thrown 
into the Tower, and consented to give up the Crown. 
Henry read the consent to Parliament and claimed 
the Crown for himself, and Parliament gave its 
assent. 

The new King had a very unquiet reign. The first 
rebellion against him broke out in Wales. Rather 
more than a hundred years before this time an English 
King, Edward I.,^ had conquered this country. The 
people had never been quite content, and now they saw 
a chance of getting their freedom again. Their leader 
was a certain Owen Glendower, who claimed to be 
descended from the last Prince of Wales, Llewellyn 
by name, the one who had tried in vain to resist the 
English conquest. Glendower had been one of King 
Richard's squires, and had been ill-treated when his 
master lost his throne. A neighbour, Lord Grey of 
Ruthyn, had been allowed to take possession of 
some of his estates. When he tried to get justice 
done to him, it was refused. Then he rebelled, and 
soon gathered a number of followers. Wales is a 
land of mountains, which Glendower and his men 
^ See p. 202. 



256 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



knew very well, and in which it was not easy for 
the English to find them. To the very end of 
his reign King Henry found this Welsh chief a 




THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY. 



very troublesome enemy. Twice did he invade 
Wales with a large army, and twice he was obliged 
to retreat. He made a third attempt, he and his son 
Prince Henry (afterwards Henry V.) and the Earl 



HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER, 257 

of Arundel attacking the country at different points. 
This time the Welsh rivers were so flooded by heavy 
rains that the English armies could not advance. 
Owen had the reputation of being a magician, and 
his followers believed that he had caused the floods 
by his arts. This made him more powerful than ever. 
In one of his battles he had taken prisoner one 
Edmund Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl of March, 
who, as will be seen from the genealogy, had a better 
claim to the Crown than Henry. As this is an 
important thing toward understanding the history 
of England for the next sixty years, you should 
look carefully at this table of the descendants of King 
Edward III. 



EDWARD III. 

I 



I I I 

Lionel of Clarence (3rd son) John of Gaunt (4th son) Edmund of Langley (5th son) 

Philippa — Edmund Mortimer Henry IV. Richard — Anne Mortimer 



I _ I Earl of Cam- 
Roger Mortimer Henry V. bridge 

1 I Henry VI. 

Edmund Anne Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York 

Mortimer, Mortimer | 

Earl of March Edward IV. 



great-grand- 
daughter of 
Lionel of 
Clarence. 



King Henry did not look with any favour on his 
family, and he would not allow Edmund Mortimer's 
relatives to ransom him. But by doing this he made 
enemies of another very powerful family, the Percies, 
Earls of Northumberland, for Henry Percy, eldest son 
of the Earl, known as Hotspur on account of his 



258 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

impetuous courage, had married Edmund Mortimer's 
sister. The Percies had for some time disHked the King. 
They had had much to do with putting him on the 
throne, and though he had rewarded them with grants 
of land and various honours, they thought that he had 
not done enough. So a great conspiracy was formed 
against King Henry. Owen Glendower released his 
prisoner Mortimer, and gave him his sister to wife, 
while Henry Percy made friends with a powerful 
Scotch noble, the Earl of Douglas. This Earl of 
Douglas had been taken prisoner by Henry Percy 
the year before at the Battle of Homildon Hill. He 
was now released without ransom, and joined the 
Percies with a large number of Scottish soldiers. 
Owen Glendower, on his part, promised to bring 
12,000 Welshmen to help his friends. It was agreed 
that the Northumbrians and the Scotchmen should 
march southwards, and join Owen and his Welsh. 

If this plan had been carried out it is quite possible 
that the rebellion might have succeeded. And indeed 
Henry was in great danger. He did not know what 
the Percies were thinking of doing. He heard indeed 
that Glendower and his Welshmen were about to 
invade Gloucestershire, and he sent letters to the lieu- 
tenant of that and of other counties on the Welsh 
border, telling them to muster their men and send them 
to join the Prince of Wales. He also knew that the 



HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 259 

Scotch were intending to attack England, and he 
sent instructions to the Percies themselves to resist 
them. This he did on June 16. A few days later 
he marched northwards himself, still, knowing nothing 
about the Percies having rebelled. About July 12 he 
learnt the truth, and hurried back. And he was just 
in time. On July 18 he came up with Hotspur and 
his Scottish allies, before Glendower had been able to 
join them. They were three miles from Shrewsbury, 
and so not far from the Welsh border. A fierce battle 
was fought, in which the rebels were defeated ; Hot- 
spur was killed, not, as Shakespeare describes, by the 
young Prince Henry, who was but a lad of fifteen, 
but by a chance arrow, as he was leading his men. 
The Earl of Douglas was taken prisoner. Prince 
Henry was in the battle, and was wounded by an 
arrow in the forehead. 

We do not know what became of Glendower. He 
v/as certainly never conquered. In 1404, two years, 
that is, after the battle of Shrewsbury, we hear of his 
sending the bishop of St. Asaph to make a treaty for 
him with the King of France, and nine years later 
still, Henry V., who was then about to start on the 
expedition which I shall describe in my next chapter, 
offered to pardon him if he would submit. He never 
did submit ; very likely, as we hear no more about 
him. he died about this time. 



26o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER III. 

AGINCOURT. 

I HAVE already told ^ how Edward III. claimed to 
be King of France, and how he won great victories by 
sea and land in seeking to make good this claim. 
But the whole country he could never conquer. 
Afterwards all that the English had won was lost 
again. For King Edward grew weak and foolish in 
his old age, and the Black Prince died before his 
father after long sickness. When Richard, the Black 
Prince's son, became king, he was but a boy, and the 
great English nobles were too much taken up with 
quarrels to care much for other things ; nor did 
Richard do any better when he took the power into 
his own hands. The end of it was, that when Richard 
died only the town of Calais was left to the English. 
King Henry IV. was too busy keeping himself upon 
his throne, and putting down the nobles who rebelled 
against him, to have any time for conquest abroad. 
But Henry V. felt himself able to do what his father 
^ Book I. chs. 28 — 31. 



AGINCOURT. 261 

could not. First he claimed that certain provinces of 
France should be given up to him, and that he should 
have for his wife the daughter of the French king, the 
Princess Katharine, with a dowry of two million 
crowns. Something the French were willing to give, 
two or three provinces, but not all that Henry asked, 
and the Princess, but not with so much money. For 
a while ambassadors went to and fro, but they could 
come to no agreement,^ and on August 11, 141 5, 
King Henry set sail from Southampton. He had 
about 30,000 men, who were carried in more than 
1500 vessels. 

He landed at Harfleur, and spent more than a 
month in besieging that place. When at last he took 
the town, he found that his army was much weakened. 
Some soldiers had been killed ; many had died of 
disease, for the season was very wet and unhealthy. 
The safest and easiest thing for him to do was to sail 
back at once. This he did not like to do. It 
would disgrace him, he thought, to have taken so 
much trouble for the sake of a single town, even 
though Harfleur was an important place, from which 
French ships used to come out to plunder the English 
coast. So he made up his mind to march across 

1 The King of France was Charles VI., grandson of that King 
John who was taken prisoner at Poitiers. He was frequently 
mad during the latter years of his life. 



262 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Normandy to Calais. This was a sort of defiance to 
the French King. Having done this he could go 




THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. 



back to England with more credit. So he sent back 
the sick and wounded to England, and leaving a 
garrison in Harfleur, began his march. He had 



AGINCOURT. 263 

perhaps 20CO men-at-arms and 10,000 archers with 
him, and he had 150 miles to go through an enemy's 
country. About half the march he made without 
any one trying to hinder him ; it was when he had 
to cross the river Somme that his real difficulties 
began. Sixty-nine years before his great-grandfather 
Edward III. had been in just the same position. He 
had to cross the same river, with the fords and 
bridges guarded, and an enemy's army much stronger 
than his own on the other s'de. King Edward had 
found a ford by bribing a Norman peasant ;i King 
Henry was able to cross the river at a place which 
the people of St. Quentin, whose business it was to 
keep it, had left unguarded. Half his army had 
crossed before the enemy came in sight ; even then 
they were not strong enough to attack him, and he 
made the passage without any loss. But he had had 
to go very much out of his way, and in fact was 
not much nearer Calais than when he started.^ 
But though the French had a much stronger army, 
they fell back before him, and it was not till he was 

1 See vol. i. p. 216. 

^ If he could have crossed by the ford which King Edward 
found unguarded he would have saved several days' march. 
Measure the distance on the map from Harfleur to Calais, 
first by way of St. Quentin, and then by way of Abbeville 
(where King Edward crossed), and you will find the first nearly 
double the second. 



264 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V. 

within forty miles of his journey's end that they 
made a stand. On October 24 he reached a httle 
village called Blangy. Crossing a stream at a place 
where a mill now stands, he marched up to a high 
table-land which lies above the valley, and there 
found the French army, so placed as to block the road 
to Calais. Their leaders had not taken the trouble to 
make their position as strong as they might have 
made it. There were two villages a little in front of 
their two wings ^ ; they let the English occupy them. 
There were woods near, in which they ought to have 
posted troops. They did not do so. All they did 
was to put their huge mass of soldiers — a hundred 
thousand men at the least — between the English and 
the place which King Henry was trying to reach. 
They seemed to think that it would be quite sufficient 
to stand still and let these few thousands of men 
who were scarcely a tenth part of their number, dash 
themselves against them. There were three lines of the 
French, one behind another. In the first were 20,000 
men, armed with coats of mail and helmets. Bodies 
of cavalry stood on either side ready to charge when 
they were wanted. The second line was made up in 
much the same way ; the third consisted chiefly of 
cavalry. 

The English were drawn up in one line, with the 
^ The " wings " of an army are its right and left sides. 



AGINCOURT. 265 

archers on either side, the men-at-arms In the middle, 
but with some archers among them. Each of these 
had a stake shod with iron which he had carried with 
him on his march. These were to be fixed into the 
ground to make a hedge when the cavalry should 
charge. There were archers also in the two villages 
which the French had not taken the trouble to 
occupy. The baggage was left some way behind 
with a few men to guard it. 

King Henry rode along the line on a small grey 
horse, putting his men in order, and bidding them 
be of good courage. He wore over his armour a coat 
embroidered with the leopards of England and the 
lilies of France, worked in their proper colours. 
Round his helmet was a crown of gold. Every one 
was to know that he was the King, and the King, as 
he said, both of France and England. When he had 
passed from one end of the line to the other, he sent 
his horse away, and took his stand on foot in front 
of his army, with the royal standard waving over his 
head. His post was in the middle of the line. On 
the right the Duke of York^ was in command; on 
the left Lord Camoys. 

Which side was to move first .? Had the French 
kept to their plan of standing still and letting the 

1 Son of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., and 
so first cousin one degree removed of the King. 



266 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

little English army dash itself In vain upon them, 
the battle might have had another end. Happily for 
us they did not, and it seems to have been King 
Henry's boldness and sk'll that made them move. 
By his command, Sir Thomas Erpyngham, one cf 
the oldest knights in the army, gave the signal to 
charge by throwing his truncheon into the air. All 
the line advanced ; and then the French, in their 
turn, began to move. It roused them to anger to 
see this little company of men, ragged and worn 
with marching, daring to attack them. Their huge, 
unwieldy host began to advance. Then the English 
halted. The archers set up their hedge of stakes, 
and so sheltered sent a shower of arrows into the 
midst of the enemy. For a time the English line 
was borne backward. But the archers went on 
shooting, and the men-at-arms fought with desperate 
valour. When the French horsemen tried to charge, 
they found themselves stopped by the hedge of stakes. 
Besides, it was only a few that could charge. The 
army was so crowded together that it could hardly 
move ; only those in front could raise their hands to 
strike. And then the heavy ground was against them. 
It was now late in the autumn, and there had been 
much rain during the last two months. The English 
had suffered from it while they lay outside the walls 
of Harfleur, or marched backwards and forwards 



AGINCOURT. 267 

along the banks of the Somme ; now it served them. 
The horsemen and heavy-armed foot-soldiers could 
not move for the mire. And all the while the terrible 
showier of arrows went on falling among them and 
striking them down. The French have always been 
better at charging than at standing still, and they 
began to lose courage, to waver, to fall back. 

Yet there was at least one brave effort to change 
the fortune of the day. The Duke d'Alengon gathered 
round him a number of knights and men-at-arms, 
and made for the place where King Henry was 
fighting in front of his army. If he could be killed, 
thought the Duke, the battle might yet be won. 
The Duke struck the King's brother, Humphrey, 
Duke of Gloucester, to the ground with a dangerous 
wound, and dealt the King himself a great blow 
which dinted his helm.et, and brought him to his 
knees. But he could do no more. He was over- 
powered and slain. In vain did the King try to save 
his life. 

The first line of the French was now broken ; the 
second seems to have fled almost without resistance. 
Some brave nobles and knights did, indeed, charge 
the English, but they could do nothing ; every man 
among them was either killed or made prisoner. 

And now there happened a dreadful thing, for 
which the King has often been blamed. He was 



268 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V. 

told that the French had attacked the rear of his 
army, that they were setting the prisoners free (for 
many prisoners had been taken by this time), had 
plundered the baggage, and were now about to 
charge him from behind. He gave orders to kill all 
the prisoners that had not been sent to the rear. 
When the i>obles and knights refused to obey, for 
they hoped to get ransom for those whom they had 
taken, and so pay themselves back for the money 
which they had spent, the King sent a squire with 
a number of archers to execute his orders. Many 
had been killed, when it was found out that the news 
was a false alarm. A knight who lived in the 
neighbourhood had indeed gone with a number of 
men to the rear of the English army and plundered 
the baggage.^ But there was no such danger as 
Henry had feared. And yet there might have been. 
Even then the French were in numbers far stronger 
than he was. If they had taken courage, and had 
found a brave and skilful man to lead them, they 
might still have destroyed him and his little army. 
And the prisoners, if set free, would of course have 
been very dangerous. 

The battle over, the King rode over the field of 
battle. " To whom does the victory belong ? " he 

1 He got hold of a number of the King's jewels, and even of 
his crown. 



AGINCOURT, 269 

said to the chief of the French heralds. "To you, 
sire," the man answered. Turning round, Henry saw 
the turrets of a castle, and asked its name. " The 
Castle of Agincourt," was the answer. " Since it is 
fitting," he said, " that all battles should bear the 
name of the fortress near to which they have been 
fought, let this field bear for ever the name of 
Agincourt." 

The French lost 10,000 men in this great battle, 
and of these more than 8000 were nobles and knights. 
Some of the very first men in France were among 
them. On the English side the Duke of York v/as 
killed, and Michael de la Pole, the young Earl of 
Suffolk. How many more fell we do not know. A 
French chronicler says 1500, an English 3300. The 
English took 1500 prisoners, two royal princes among 
them. 



The King went back to England. Afterwards he 
returned to France with another and yet stronger 
army. After much fighting peace was made. It 
was agreed that Henry should marry the Princess 
Katharine, and should be King of France after the 
death of Charles 



270 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 

On October 22, 1422, Charles VI. of France died. 
At his funeral the French herald cried aloud, first, 
"May God have mercy on the soul of the late 
most powerful and excellent Charles VI. King of 
France!" and then, "May God grant long life to 
Henry, by the Grace of God King of France and 
England!" for indeed the little child, Henry of 
Windsor as he was called, then not a year old, was 
by the treaty of Troyes King of France and England. 
His uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, had been made 
regent by Henry on his death-bed, and for a time all 
seemed to go well. Charles, son of the late King, 
claimed, it is true, the crown of France, and was 
supported by many of the nobles, but the greater 
part of the country was content, it seemed, to submit 
to the English. The Duke of Bedford was an 
excellent soldier and a good governor. He was on 
good terms too with the two powerful princes, the 
Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy. A sister of the 



THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 2-ji 

latter became his wife. But it was a state of things 
in which trouble was sure to arise before very 
long. After all, the English had no real right 
to be in France, and though some powerful persons 
in that country, for reasons of their own, sup- 
ported them, their power had no strong founda- 
tion. Then there were perpetual quarrels at home 
among the nobles who ruled in the young King's 
name. The Duke of Gloucester, another uncle of 
the young King, and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of 
Winchester, who was also related to him, were the 
leaders of two hostile parties in the Council, and 
their quarrels did much harm both at home and 
abroad. But the chief cause of the overthrow of the 
English kingdom in France was of a very different 
kind. This cause I shall now describe. 

At the little village of Domremi, in the province of 
Champagne, there was a peasant family of the name 
of Dare. One of the daughters, Jeanne by name 
(commonly spelt Joan), was a very pious and earnest 
girl, who had been greatly moved by the sad 
stories which she had heard of the troubles of her 
country, divided as it was by parties among its 
own people, and oppressed by a foreign ruler. She 
thought much about these things, as she spent day 
after day alone in the fields near her native village, 
keeping her father's sheep. Before long she seemed 



272 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to herself to see the figures of angels in the sky 
and to hear voices which told her that she had a 
great work to do for France. As time went on 
these visions seemed to become clearer and clearer. 
She saw Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine, and 
heard the voice of the Archangel Michael. She 
was to deliver the young King from his enemies, and 
bring him to be crowned where his fathers before 
him had been crowned, in the Cathedral of Rheims. 
Obeying, as she thought, these commands, she went 
to the officer in command of a neighbouring garrison 
and told him her errand. Of course he was disposed 
to treat her as a mad-woman or a cheat. But by 
this time she had become famous in the country 
round. No one doubted her goodness and piety. 
Many were disposed to believe that she was really 
chosen by Heaven to do a great work for France. A 
priest who was sent to question her was much moved 
by her earnestness, and declared that she was not a 
witch — people in those days were terribly afraid of 
witches. At last she got her way, so far at least 
as to be taken to King Charles. Mounted on a 
white horse, and dressed like a man, for this, she 
said, was one of the things which the voices from 
heaven commanded, with four squires attending her, 
she rode to Chinon, where the King then was. The 
King and his Councillors were not disposed to believe 



THE 'ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 273 

ill her. But at last her zeal and faith prevailed, not a 
little, we may suppose, because the King's affairs were 
in a very bad way. 

It was now the early spring of 1429, and Orleans, 
the most important place which yet remained to 
King Charles, had been besieged since October 12 
in the year before by the English and Burgundians. 
In February 1429 Sir John Falstaff, who was bring- 
ing provisions to the besieging army, had won a 
victory over an army of French and Scots at a battle 
called the Battle of the Herrings. If Orleans should 
fall,»it was plain that for some time to come at least 
King Charles would have little hope of success. 
This was just what the Maid declared she could 
prevent, and the King resolved to try her. A force 
of 7000 men was raised and sent to relieve the 
town. Joan, splendidly armed, carrying a . sacred 
banner, and surrounded by a troop of picked horse- 
men, went with the army. They took a supply of 
provisions for the town, which was carried down the 
Loire in boats, the army marching along the bank to 
protect them. The English tried to capture the 
boats but failed ; both troops and provisions got 
safely into Orleans, and Joan was received with the 
greatest joy by the townspeople. Thenceforward she 
was commonly called The Maid of Orleans. 

The very next day, Joan, sure that the besiegers 



274 STORIES FROM ENGLISH 'HISTORY, 

were as much disheartened by what had happened as 
the townspeople were encouraged, prevailed upon the 
officers in command to attack the EngHsh works. 
The first place assaulted was a tower called St. Loup, 
garrisoned by three hundred English. It was taken. 
The next day another fort fell. A few days after- 
wards the strongest position of the besiegers, the 
Castle of Tournelles, was attacked. On tliis occasion 
the Maid was wounded in the neck by an arrow, and 
fell to the ground. But she revived when the arrow 
had been drawn out, and again joined the men of 
Orleans in the assault. The castle was captured, 
and most of the garrison either slain or taken 
prisoners. The spirit of the English was now quite 
broken down. On May 8, after burning what was 
left of their works, they gave up the siege, and 
Orleans was safe. In the course of little more 
than a week this wonderful girl had turned the tide 
of war. 

And now, for some time, victory seemed to follow 
her wherever she went. Fort after fort, town after 
town, fell into the hands of the French. At Patay 
they ventured on a fight in the open field, a thing 
which they had hardly ventured to do since the fatal 
day of Agincourt, and gained a great victory. This 
was on June i8. About three weeks afterwards, 
on Sunday, July 8, Charles was crowned at Rheims 



THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 



275 



The maid stood by his side, holding her sacred 
banner in her hands. 




ENGLISH SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN FRANCE. 



And now, feeling that her work was done, she 
would gladly have returned to her home. The 
voices, she said, had bidden her rouse the King 



276 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

from his despair, and see him crowned. This she 
]iad accomplished, and she asked leave to depart. 
"What will you do.?" the King is said to have 
asked. '' Feed my father's sheep as I was wont to 
do," was her answer. But King Charles thought 
too much of the help which she gave him to let her 
go, and she stayed, though much against her will. 

And now her good fortune seemed in a way to 
leave her. King Charles made an attack on Paris, 
which the English still held. The Maid was among 
the foremost in an assault that was made on Sep- 
tember 12 on one of the suburbs of the city. She 
scaled the wall, and when thrown back into the 
ditch, rose again and waved her banner to encourage 
the assailants. But nothing could be done, and when 
it was found that her special sword ^ was broken, men 
began to whisper that the favour of Heaven had been 
withdrawn. Again she entreated the King to allow 
her to depart, and again he refused. 

It was near the end of May in the following year 
(1430) that she fought her last battle. The Duke of 
Burgundy was besieging Compiegne, and the Maid 
marched with a considerable force to relieve the 

1 This was a sword with five crosses upon it. It had been 
laid up near one of the altars of a church, at some former time, 
and had been forgotten. Joan described it exactly, and also 
the place where it had been put. It was given to her, and she 
used it ever afterwards. 



\ 



THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 277 

town. She made her way through the lines of 
the besiegers into the town. The next day she 
headed a sally against the enemy, and took one 
of their posts. Then her men were out-numbered 
and compelled to retreat. Joan, staying behind 
while she tried to rally them, was overtaken by a 
Burgundian archer, and pulled from her horse. "The 
English were rejoiced," says the chronicler Monstrelct, 
"and more pleased than if they had taken five hun- 
dred other combatants, for they feared no other 
leader or captain so much as they had hitherto 
feared the Maid." When shortly after the Duke of 
Burgundy himself came to inspect his army at 
Compiegne, he went to see his prisoner at the 
lodgings where she was kept. " He spoke some 
words to her," says Monstrelet, '' but what they were 
I do not now recollect, although I was present." One 
cannot help being sorry that Monstrelet does not tell 
us more about this wonderful young woman. But he 
does not seem to have been very much interested 
in her. 

What remains to say about her is very sad indeed. 
The Duke of Burgundy gave her up to the Bishop of 
Beauvais, who tried her as a heretic and a witch. 
As she declared that she was bound to obey the 
heavenly voices which she had heard, her judges 
found her guilty of heresy, and condemned her to 



278 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

death. She was persuaded to acknowledge that she 
had been wrong, and that she was bound to obey the 
Church rather than the voices. Having signed this 
confession — she could not write, but " made her 
mark" — her punishment was changed from death to 
imprisonment for life. But her enemies were not 
satisfied. The dress of a soldier was left in her cell ; 
she put it on, and her gaolers, who had been watch- 
ing her, found her in it. This was taken as a fresh 
offence ; she was again condemned to death, and 
burnt on May 30, 143 1, in the market-place of 
Rouen. One is glad to think that this cruel and 
wicked act was not done by the English. King 
Charles, who owed his throne to her, did not take 
the least trouble to save her life. 

Six months afterwards Henry VI. was crowned 
King of France in Paris. But his cause never pros- 
pered, and when the Duke of Bedford died, as he did 
about four years afterwards, it became quite hopeless. 
The war went on indeed, and sometimes one side got 
the better and sometimes the other. At last, in 
145 1, nothing was left of all the English possessions in 
France but the town of Calais. Things in fact were 
exactly as they had been thirty-six years before, 
when Henry V. began his French war. All the blood 
and treasure that had been spent had been spent in 
vain. 



JACK CADE. 279 



CHAPTER V. 

JACK CADE. 

The rebellion of Wat Tyler about which 1 wrote in 
the first chapter of this book happened just thirty-five 
years after the great battle of Poitiers, and the 
rebellion of Jack Cade, about which I am going to 
write in this, exactly the same time after Agincourt. 
And this was not a mere chance. Both Poitiers 
and Agincourt were glorious victories, but it might 
have been better for England if they had never been 
won, for they made the nation hope to do what never 
could be done, that is, conquer Erance. The English 
went on spending lives and money without end, and 
all for nothing. Men went away from every English 
village to the French wars, and never came back 
again ; the taxes grew heavier and heavier ; and the 
nobles and knights asked more and more from their 
tenants. Sometimes money was wanted when they 
had to fit themselves out for a campaign with their 
squires and their men-at-arms, sometimes to raise a 
ransom if they happened to be taken prisoners. All 



28o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

'these things and others like them caused a great deal 
of trouble, as indeed was sure to be the case when the 
rulers of the country were more anxious to get hold of 
what belonged to other people than to do their best 
with what was their own. The result was great 
discontent, which broke out now and then into open 
rebellion when there was some special cause, such as 
a bad harvest or a new tax. 

, In the summer of 1450 the three counties that lie 
in the south-eastern corner of England, Kent, Surrey, 
and Sussex, rebelled, under the leadership of a certain 
Jack Cade, who called himself Captain of Kent. They 
complained that the King had bad advisers about him, 
that the English possessions in France had been lost 
by treachery, and that the taxes were unbearably 
heavy. Who Jack Cade himself was is not known 
for certain. He gave out that he belonged to the 
noble family of Mortimer. It should be observed that 
the leaders of Wat Tyler's rebellion did not pretend 
to be anything but workmen, whereas the chief 
of this pretended that he was a man of high birth. 
According to some accounts he was an Irishman, 
who had fought in France against the English, but 
had afterwards come over to this country. He led 
his men to Blackheath, where they encamped. It is 
said that there was a great multitude of them, and 
that they were well disciplined and well armed. The 



JACK CADE. 



281 



King or rather his ministers, for Henry himself had 
very Httle spirit, and was for the best part led by 
others, raised an army of 15,000 men and marched 
against the rebels. Cade did not feel himself able 




LAHOURERS. 

to meet so strong a force, and retreated southward. 
The King was preparing to pursue him, but his wife, 
Margaret of Anjou, is said to have been afraid that 
he might meet with some injury, and to have pre- 
vailed upon him to stay behind himself, and send two 



282 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of his generals, Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother 
William, to attack them. Cade had been afraid to 
resist the King. Perhaps he knew that his followers 
would not back him up in doing so. But it was a 
different thing when he had to do with a couple of 
knights. At Sevenoaks he turned upon his pursuers 
and defeated them, killing both their leaders. After 
winning this victory he marched northward again, 
and encamped once more on Blackheath. And now 
the city of London came over to him. The Common 
Council voted that the gates of the town should be 
opened to him, and he marched hjs troops across 
London Bridge, and took possession. This he did 
by striking his sword on " London Stone " i and 
crying out at the same time, " Now is Mortimer 
Lord of London." 

The King, still under the influence of his wife, who 
did not behave with anything like the courage that she 
afterwards showed, had fled to Kenil worth Castle in 
Warwickshire, and it seemed as if the rebellion were 
likely to succeed. For a time Cade was able to keep 
his men in good order. They remained in the city 
during the day, but without plundering the property 
of the citizens or doing any ipjury to man, woman, or 
child. Every night their leader took them across the 

1 " London Stone " may still be seen in the wall of St. 
Swithin's Church in Cannon Street, 



JACK CADE. 283 

bridge to Sonthwark, which is on the other side of the 
river. But this happy state of things did not last very 
long. Cade seized the Treasurer, Lord Saye and Sele, 
who had made himself very unpopular, and brought 
him before the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor con- 
demned him, and he was executed in Cheapside.^ 
Another victim was Lord Saye and Sele's son-in-law, 
Crowmer, who was Sheriff of Kent. The citizens of 
London did not approve of these proceedings, and put- 
ting themselves under the command of one Matthew 
Gough, who had the reputation of being a skilful 
soldier, tried to prevent Cade and his followers from 
coming over the bridge from Southwark into London. 
A fierce fight took place. The Londoners, who had 
posted themselves at the southern end of the bridge, 
were driven back to the middle, where there was a 
drawbridge. Matthew Gough was killed in the battle. 
But though the rebels had the best of the fighting, 
Cade did not feel strong enough to enter London 
again, and remained on the south side of the river. 
And now the King's counsellors thought that they 
might be disposed to listen to offers of peace. The 
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Win- 

^ Then the great market of London. " Cheap " means 
market. So we have a " chapman,"' a man who sells ; and 
such names of towns as Chipping Norton, Chipping Barnet, 
Chipping Camden; etc. 



284 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Chester were sent to treat with them. They found 
Cade dressed in a splendid suit of gilded armour 
which had belonged to Sir Humphrey Stafford. The 
Archbishop afterwards spoke of him as having been 
'* sober in talk and wise in reasoning, though arrogant 
in heart and stiff in opinion." The Archbishop 
promised that the things complained of should be set 
right, and that no man should be punished for having 
taken part in the rebellion. On hearing this Cade's 
followers dispersed to their homes. They had got, 
they thought, what they wanted, and now the sooner 
they went back to their own business the better. But 
Cade was not satisfied. Perhaps he was afraid that, 
having been the leader of the whole affair, he would 
be excepted from the pardon. Perhaps, having had a 
taste of power, he was not willing to give it up. As 
his own people had left him, he is said to have 
provided himself with a new force by breaking open 
the gaols and setting free the prisoners. But this was 
a kind of army which did not hold together very long. 
With some of his followers Cade made his way to 
Rochester, whither he sent the plunder which he had 
collected. About this plunder they quarrelled, and 
Cade, leaving his companions, tried to make his escape 
alone. By this time a price of £1000 had been set 
upon his head. At Heathfield, a village in the Weald 
of Sussex, he was overtaken by Alexander Iden, who 



THE TWO ROSES. 285 

had been made Sheriff of Kent, and mortally wounded. 
Iden would have taken him to London, but he died 
on the way. 



CHAPTER VL 

THE TWO ROSES. 



The rebellion of Jack Cade lasted but a few weeks 
only ; the Civil War, which is commonly called the 
" War of the Roses," went on, with times of peace in 
between, for thirty years and more. The first battle 
was fought at St. Albans on May 22, 1455, the last 
at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. 

The first and most easily described cause of this 
war was the claim of an elder branch of the royal 
family of England as against a younger. If you will 
look back to p. 15 of this volume, you will see how 
Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, was descended 
from Lionel of Clarence, tJiird son of Edward III. 
It will be enough to say that the Duke of York, son 
of this Edmund Mortimer's sister Anne, claimed the 
throne as having a better right to it than Henry VL, 
who, as the same table shows, was descended from 
Edward \\\!s fourth son, John of Gaunt. 



286 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

But this family claim after all did not go for very 
much. Possibly it might never have been heard of, 
or would, at least, have come to nothing, if Henry V. 
had lived, or had left behind him a wiser and more 
capable son than Flenry VI. But things were so 
badly managed by Henry and his advisers that the 
nation, or at least a great part of it, looked for a 
change. Then the Lollards or followers of Wiclif, 
who had been favoured by John of Gaunt, were 
persecuted by his descendants, and naturally turned 
to another branch of the family, which might, they 
hoped, treat them better. Another cause of the war 
was that the nobles, not having any longer the French 
to fight with, began to fight against each other. 
Lastly, the towns, which were growing richer and 
stronger, took up the side of the Duke of York, as 
being one who would try to make certain reforms 
which were much wanted, and generally to take 
their part against the nobles and bishops. 

The first battle took place, as has been said, 
at St. Albans, in 1455.^ The Duke of York had 
not then got as far as claiming the crown. He only 
demanded that the King should dismiss a very weak 
and worthless adviser that he had, Edmund Beaufort, 

"^ There were two battles at St. Albans. The second hap- 
pened not quite six years afterward (Feb. 17, 1461). 



THE TWO ROSES, 2S7 

Duke of Somerset.^ In order to see that this was 
done, he, in company with some other nobles, of 




HENRY VI. AND MARGAKET. 

whom the Earl of Warwick was one, marched towards 
London. The King's troops came out to meet him, 

^ Edmund Beaufort was a cousin of the King's, being a 
grandson of John of Gaunt. 



288 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and the two armies met in the town of St. Albans. 
The King's soldiers got into the town first, and made 
barricades across the streets. These they held for a 
time, and so kept the Duke of York's men in check, 
but the Earl of Warwick got in by another way, and 
took them in the rear. After a short struggle they 
fled. The battle lasted little more than an hour, and 
not many were killed on either side, but among these 
was the Duke of Somerset.^ 

The Duke of York now became the most powerful 
man in the kingdom, being made " Protectgr of the 
Realm." But Queen Margaret, who had far more 
to do with the government of the country than her 
husband, never liked him, and did not rest till she 
had deprived him of his office. For the time the 



^ It was the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Warwick who, 
according to the common story, chose the white and the red 
roses as badges of their two parties. Shakespeare (i He7iry F/., 
Act II, sc. iv.) makes the plucker of the White Rose to be 
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. 

{Scene— The Temple Gardens) 

" Plan. Let him that is a true-born gentleman, 
And stands upon the honour of his birth, 
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. 

Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 
But dare maintain the party of the truth, 
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." 



THE TWO ROSES. 289 

Duke of York made no resistance, but retired to his 
castle in the north. The next thing was that the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, with others who were 
anxious to keep the peace, endeavoured to reconcile 
the two parties. For a time they succeeded ; the 
chiefs went to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, 
walking arm-in-arm, while the Duke of York himself 
gave his hand to the Queen. But the peace did not 
last very long. The Earl of Warwick was very 
nearly killed by a mob in a London street, and fled 
to Calais, of which he was governor. From that time 
he began to do his best to take the crown from 
Henry and give it to the Duke of York. 

In 1459 the war began again. First the White 
Rose was victorious, then the Red, then the White 
again. Lord Salisbury, who was father of the Earl 
of Warwick, was marching with 5000 men to join 
the Duke of York, when Lord Audley fell upon him 
with an army of double the strength. Salisbury was 
the better general of the two — indeed the leaders 
of the White Rose or Yorkist party were, on the 
whole, more skilful than those on the other side 
— and pretending to fly, drew the enemy into a 
dangerous position. He then turned upon him 
and defeated him with heavy loss. Lord Audley 
and as many as 2000 men were killed, and a great 
number of prisoners was taken. But in a few weeks 



290 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

all the advantage thus gained was lost. The Queen 
raised an army and marched to Ludlow, where the 
Duke of York with the two Nevilles^ were encamped. 
For some reason the Duke's army lost heart ; one of 
Warwick's chief officers went over to the Queen with 
his men ; the army dispersed without fighting — its 
sudden breaking up is called " The Rout of Ludlow/' 
— and their leaders had to fly for their lives, the Duke 
of York escaping to Ireland, the Earl of Warwick and 
his father to Calais. 

But Queen Margaret used her victory very badly. 
Towns which were suspected of favouring the Duke 
of York were given up to plunder. Many of his 
friends were deprived of their property ; some were 
put to death. These things made the King un- 
popular, and Warwick, who had a safe refuge in 
Calais, came back to England, landing at Sandwich. 
The men of Kent joined him at once, and he marched 
to London, which was then, and remained to the end, 
on the Yorkist side. Queen Margaret had not had 
time to gather all her forces ; what she had were 
encamped outside the walls of Northampton. War- 
wick marched north with all the speed that he could 
use to attack this army before it could be joined by 
the Queen's friends from other parts of England. 
He reached Northampton on July lo, and at once 
^ Salisbury and Warwick. 



THE TWO ROSES. 291 

Stormed the camp. The Duke of Buckingham, who 
was a great-grandson of Edward III.} the Earl of 
Shrewsbury, and more than three hundred knights, 
were slain. The Queen, with her young son, fled to 
Wales. The Duke of York now thought that the 
time was come for him to claim the crown. He went 
to London, and calling a Parliament, demanded that 
he should be recognized as the true King of England. 
But he did not find even his own friends ready to 
yield. The King was not a little beloved, notwith- 
standing all his weakness. And then he and his 
father and his grandfather had been Kings of England 
for more than forty years. Parliament had solemnly 
acknowledged their right to rule again and again ; 
there was no one in the kingdom but had taken the 
oath of allegiance to him. Warwick himself told the 
Duke that he must not claim to be King ; he must be 
content to be Regent. At last the matter was com- 
promised. Henry was to be King as long as he 
lived ; the Duke of York was to succeed him. As for 
the claims of the young Prince, they were set aside. 

King Henry was content to accept these terms ; 
perhaps we may say that he could not refuse them. 
But Queen Margaret was not satisfied at all. She 
hurried to the north, where she had many friends, the 

^ His mother was daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, 
Edward's youngest son. 



292 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

great house of Percy being chief among them, and 
with their help raised another army. The Duke of 
York marched northward to meet them, and finding 
them at Sandal Castle, a home of his own, near 
Wakefield, resolved to attack them. His friends 
advised him to wait, for his army was not equal to the 
Queen's, and great forces were on their way to join 
him under his son, the Earl of March. He would not 
Hsten to this prudent advice, but engaged at once. 
The result was a complete defeat. His army was 
broken by an attack in front ; and in the midst 
of their confusion some troops who had been lying 
in ambush attacked them from behind. The Duke 
himself was killed. All the men of rank who were 
taken prisoners were executed the next day, the Earl 
of Salisbury among them. Their heads were stuck on 
the walls of Wakefield, that of York having a crown 
of paper put round it. The most shocking thing in 
the story is the murder of the Duke's second son, the 
Earl of Rutland, a youth of seventeen. A priest had 
the lad in his charge, and was taking him to a place 
of safety, when he was overtaken by some followers of 
Lord Clifford. The young Earl threw himself on his 
knees before Lord Clifford and begged for mercy. 
" No," cried the savage noble, " your father slew my 
father, and I will slay thee and all thy kin ! " and he 
plunged a dagger into his heart. 



THE TWO ROSES. 293 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE TWO ROSES {continued). 

The death of the Duke of York did not do as 
much harm to his cause as one might have thought it 
would have done. He was a clever man, and of a 
much finer and more generous temper than any, we 
may say, of the nobles of his time, but he was not a 
skilful general. His son Edward, who succeeded 
him, was in this respect much superior, though he 
was a much worse man. And in something of the 
same way the death of the Earl of Salisbury was an 
advantage. The whole power of the family now 
came into the hands of his son, the Earl of Warwick, 
and Warwick, like Edward, was a cleverer man than 
his father. 

Just seven weeks after the battle of Wakefield, the 
Yorkists suffered another defeat. Warwick was 
anxious above all things to keep London, which was, 
indeed, the chief strength of his cause. He got 
together in haste all the troops that he could, and 



294 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

marched thither. Queen Margaret, who was as 
anxious to gain the great city as he was not to lose 
it, had come from the north, though she had not 
used all the speed that she might. Her soldiers were 
bent on plundering, and she did not, perhaps could 
not, keep them in order. The two armies met at St. 
Albans, and Warwick was defeated. 

And now, if the Queen had pressed on at once, 
the Lancastrians might have been successful. This 
time, it would seem, her husband stopped her. He 
could not bear to think that the savage soldiers, 
who had done so much harm in England already, 
should plunder and burn the capital city of his 
kingdom.^ He persuaded the Queen to wait till 
the Londoners, who were greatly in favour of the 
other party, should make a regular surrender of 
their city. And while she waited, the opportunity 
was lost. 

The Duke of York's son, the young Earl of March, 
was in the west of England when the news of his 
father's defeat and death reached him. On February 
2, 1461, he met the Lancastrians, under the command 
of Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, at Mortimer's 
Cross in Herefordshire, and defeated them. Jasper 
fled from the field. His father Owen, who, thirty- 

1 They had scarcely been prevented from destroying the 
splendid Abbey of St. Albans. 



THE TWO ROSES. 295 

three years before, had married Katharine of France, 
the fifth Henry's widow, was with him. The stout 
old man refused to fly, was taken prisoner, carried to 
Hereford, and beheaded there. 

Edward went on towards London, and was joined 




on the way by Warwick. The Queen, who had not 
been able to keep her troops together, did not wait 
for their coming, but retreated northwards. The 
young Duke entered London, and without waiting 
for the assent of Parliament, caused himself to be 
proclaimed King by the title of Edward IV. 



296 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

It was no time for him to sit still and enjoy his 
new dignity. In the course of a few days he and 
Warwick marched northwards, and met the Lancas- 
trians, who were under the command of the Duke of 
Somerset, at Towton, a village about ten miles south- 
west of York. The battle that followed, fought on 
March 29 (Palm Sunday), 1461, was the greatest 
if we regard the numbers engaged,^ and one of the 
most important, ever fought in this country. 

The Duke of Somerset posted his army on some 
high land in front of the village of Towton. On his 
right was a steep slope, going down to the beck or 
brook called the Cock. This is commonly a small 
stream, but it was then in flood, and could not be 
crossed. On his left there was another slope, not so 
steep, but still steep enough to make an attack 
difficult. In front also the ground fell, but more 
S^ently. His great fault was, according to a recent 
writer, that he crowded his men too much together 
and so lost the advantage of his larger numbers. 
Something of the same kind had been done by the. 
French at Agincourt. King Edward and Warwick 
came on from the south, unseen because of a snow- 

1 It may be reckoned that the two armies together numbered 
about 10O5O00 men, of whom three-fifths were on the Lancas- 
trian, two-fifths on the Yorkist sides. Both sides, however, 
suffered some losses before the decisive day, and it is possible 
that the numbers engaged at Hastings were nearly equal. 



THE TWO ROSES. 297 

storm which was blowing from that direction, and 
was therefore driving into the faces of the Lancas- 
trians. But they could see better than they were 
seen, and sent volleys of arrows among the enemy. 
These tried to return them, but to little purpose. 
The Yorkists drew back when they had discharged 
their arrows ; when the volleys of the enemy began 
to fail they came on again. At last the Lancastrians 
were provoked to leave their post, to descend the 
slope in front, and to climb that which rose on the 
opposite side of the valley to where the Yorkist army 
stood. And still the snow beat fiercely in their faces. 
The fight went on fiercely for many hours. About 
noon, the Duke of Norfolk, who had been some miles 
behind, came up with fresh troops from Ferrybridge, 
at which place he had crossed the Aire, and fell on 
the left flank of the Lancastrians. Still they held 
out ; it was late in the afternoon before they broke 
and fled. Many were slain on the field of battle ; 
it is said that as many as 30,000 bodies were 
buried at Towton, and many were drowned in the 
flooded brook. By the end of the day the Lancas- 
trian army had ceased to be. No prisoners were 
taken. Never have Englishmen fought so savagely 
as they did in the War of the Roses. 

Even after this Queen Margaret did not give up 
hope. She. had still some friends in England, and 



298 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

she now began to look for help to the enemies of her 
country. She gave up Berwick-upon-Tweed to the 
Scotch, and she pledged Calais to the French, and 
got some soldiers in return. The great house of the 
Percies was still on her side, and so were others 
among the nobles of the north. They fought for 
her at Hedgeley Moor and were beaten ; they fought 
again at Hexham, and met with the same fate. 
King Henry was at Hexham, but soon fled from the 
field. He escaped, though three of the servants who 
waited on him were taken. For a year he was in 
hiding, and was then discovered, and taken to London. 
Queen Margaret, who had her son, then eleven years 
old, with her, fled towards the Scottish border. She 
went through not a few hardships and dangers before 
she could make good her escape. She fell among a 
party of plunderers, but contrived to get away while 
they were quarrelling over their booty. A few hours 
afterwards she met — so the story runs — one of the 
outlaws who haunted the great forest of Hexham. 
She told him that she was the Queen of England, 
and that the boy with her was the heir to the English 
crown ; and she begged him to protect, if not herself, 
at least the child. The man was moved by her 
prayers, and found a hiding-place for mother and son 
till their friends could arrange for their escape to 
France. 



THE TWO ROSES. 299 

The battle of Hexham was fought on May 15, 
1464. About a month afterwards Warwick took 
Bamborough Castle, the last place in England that 
held out for the Lancastrians, and for six years the 
land had peace. 



CHAPTER VHI. 

"THE END OF THE KING-MAKER." 

Edward had not long been King before a quarrel 
began between him and his powerful subject, the Earl 
of Warwick. Warwick was a prudent statesman, and 
thought that the King could not do better than 
marry a French princess. This would strengthen 
him on his throne, because it would prevent the 
French King, who was the nearest and most power- 
ful of his neighbours, from helping the House of 
Lancaster. But Edward wanted, as indeed was quite 
natural, to please himself in the matter of marrying. 
He had fallen in love with Lady Elizabeth Grey 
of Groby, daughter of a certain Lord Rivers who had 
fought on Henry's side in the War of the Roses. 
This lady he married in 1464. Warwick was greatly 



300 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

displeased at this, and became still more angry when 
he found that the King was disposed to raise his 
wife's kinsfolk to power. Then another cause of 
difference came up. Warwick still desired an alli- 
ance with France, but the King was more disposed 
to make friends with the Duke of Burgundy, Charles 
surnamed the Bold, and promised to give him his 
sister Margaret for wife. Edward and his brother 
the Duke of Clarence were not on good terms, and 
the Duke made friends with Warwick, whose daughter 
he married in the year 1469. In this year the quarrel 
between the King and Warwick broke out into open 
war. There was a rebellion in the north, which the 
Earl and his friends secretly encouraged. The King 
was not strong enough to put it down, and was 
actually made prisoner, his keeper being Warwick's 
brother, the Archbishop of York. About the same 
time the Queen's father and brother, who had been 
taken prisoners at a battle in Northamptonshire, were 
put to death. Warwick was now the real ruler of 
England ; but in the next year King Edward con- 
trived to escape, and Warwick had to fly from the 
country. He now made up his mind to break with 
King Edward altogether, and to put Henry again 
upon the throne. By the help of King Louis of 
France, he made friends with Queen Margaret. 
Shortly afterwards he returned to England, where 



' THE END OF THE KING-MAKE R: 301 

his brother, Lord Montague, had been busy raising 
an army. And now Edward, in his turn, was com- 
pelled to fly from the country, and to take refuge with 
his brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy. The 
Duke, while pretending to favour neither of the two 
parties, secretly helped him, and Edward returned to 
England. In Yorkshire, where he landed, having been 
driven out of his proper course by a storm, he was not 
well received, but as he went southward, great num- 
bers flocked to join him. The Duke of Clarence, 
"false, fleeting, perjured," joined him, and when he 
reached London he was at once admitted within the 
gates, and found the citizens ready to help him with 
both money and men, Warwick had followed him 
from the north, and King Edward lost no time in 
turning back to meet him. He marched to Barnet, 
taking King Henry from his prison in the Tower 
with him. 

Warwick, who had with him the Earl of Oxford, 
and his brother, Lord Montague, had encamped on 
the table-land which lies to the north of Barnet. 
Edward marched up Barnet Hill without being 
hindered, passed through Barnet town, and drew up 
his army on the southern part of what is now known 
as Hadley Green. The country was covered with a 
thick mist, and it seems that neither of the two 
commanders knew exactly where they were, or where 



302 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the enemy was to be found. King Edward, in par- 
ticular, meaning to draw up his army in hne over 
against that of the Earl of Warwick, drew it up 
really far too much to the right. The mistake really 
turned out to his advantage, for the cannonade which 
the enemy directed during the night on his left wing, 
or rather where they supposed the left wing to be, 
did no harm, the balls falling in an empty space. 
About five o'clock in the morning — it was Easter Day, 
April 14, 147 1 — the trumpet sounded for battle, and 
King Edward's men began to move forwards. No 
regular plan of attack could be carried out, so thick 
was the mist. Whenever it grew lighter for a time, 
and this company or that could see a portion of the 
enemy, there was some fierce fighting. Then it 
became thicker again, and the combatants were 
almost obliged to hold their hands. At first the 
battle seemed likely to go against King Edward. 
Lord Montague and the Earl of Oxford found his 
left wing very weak, and drove it before them in 
confusion. Some of the flying soldiers took refuge in 
the houses of Barnet town, some tried to hide them- 
selves in the great forest called Enfield Chase, which 
in those days came close up to the town.^ A few 
even fled as far as London, carrying with them false 

1 What is now known as Hadley Common or Chase is a part 
of this forest. 



THE END OF THE KING- MAKER: 



303 



tidings of how King Edward's army had been alto- 
gether defeated. But, thanks to the mist, the rest of 
the army knew very Httle of what had happened, and 
fought on as bravely and cheerfully as if nothing had 
gone wrong. On the other hand, the pursuers took 
to plundering the houses of the townsmen, and their 




THE BATTLE OF BARNET. 



leaders had much trouble in gathering them together 
again and putting them in good order. When they 
had done this to the best of their power, and were 
making their way back to the field of battle, another 
misfortune happened to them, and of this also the 
mist may have been, in part at least, the cause. 



304 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

They came upon the centre of their own Hne of 
battle, and being taken by them for enemies were 
received with a shower of arrows. One reason for 
this mistake is said to have been that the Earl of 
Oxford's men wore a badge that was very like that 
of King Edward's soldiers. These latter had on their 
coats a sun with rays streaming from it, while the 
Earl of Oxford's badge was a star with five points. 
The one may well have been taken for the other, 
especially on a misty day. Certain it is that the 
right wing, when coming back to the battle, received 
a volley from their own friends. Some of them set 
up a cry of " Treachery ! treachery ! " and fled from 
the field, the Earl himself being among them. The 
archers too, when they found out what they had 
done, were not a little disturbed. King Edward saw 
at once the confusion among his enemies, and felt 
that the time was come for striking a great blow. 
He had kept in reserve behind his first line some 
companies of horse and foot. These were of course 
quite fresh, while the rest of the two armies had been 
fighting ever since dawn, that is for nearly five hours. 
King Edward himself led them on, and fought at 
their head. There was not a stronger or more skil- 
ful man-at-arms than he in either army, and that day 
he fought more fiercely than ever. The Earl of 
Warwick's line was soon broken through, and though 



'THE END OF THE KING-MAKER: 305 

here and there small parties of his men continued to 
resist, the victory was beyond all doubt with King 
Edward. By an hour before noon all was over, 
though the pursuit may have lasted some time 
longer. The King-maker and his brother, Lord 
Montague, were found dead on the field. An obelisk, 
set up about a hundred and fifty years ago, marks 
the spot where, according to tradition, the two were 
slain. Another memory of the battle is preserved in 
the name of " Dead Man's Bottom," given to a hollow 
in Hadley Wood. The two brothers were buried in 
Bisham Abbey. 

But King Edward had one more battle to fight 
before he could enjoy his kingdom in peace. On the 
very day of the battle of Barnet, Queen Margaret 
landed at Weymouth, and was joined by some of the 
old friends of her cause. Her first intention had been 
to march on London, but when she heard of War- 
wick's defeat and death, she turned westwards. 
Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, was raising troops 
in Wales, and if she could join him her chances of 
victory would be much improved. She got: as far as 
Gloucester, but the Governor of the city would not 
admit her men within the walls. Thus they were not 
able to cross the Severn, as they had hoped to do, 
by Gloucester bridge. They now marched north- 
wards, hoping to get across the Avon at Tewkesbury, 



306 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and so make their way to Worcester, and from 
Worcester into Wales. King Edward was following 
them, and at Tewkesbury was so close behind that 
they could not hope to make the passage of the 
Avon without fighting. Queen Margaret was for 
moving on, but the soldiers were utterly wearied, for 
they had marched more than forty miles within the 
last twenty-four hours, and their leaders resolved to 
fight where they were. The two armies were about 
equal in numbers ; but King Edward was a far 
better leader than Somerset,^ and his soldiers were in 
better condition. Anyhow the battle was soon over. 
Somerset, who would probably have done better if he 
had remained in the strong position which he had 
taken up, and been content to defend himself, saw, as 
he thought, an opportunity of attacking the enemy, 
and fell upon the left wing of Edward's army. He 
was beaten off, and falling back upon his own lines, 
put them into confusion. King Edward now charged 
the centre of the Lancastrians. It broke and fled, 
and the day was lost. As there is a " Dead Man's 
Bottom " near the field of Barnet, so there is a 
" Bloody Meadow " by the side of the Avon below 

^ There were three Dukes of Somerset, Beauforts, and descend- 
ants of John of Gaunt : (i) Edmund, killed at the first battle 
of St. Albans ; (2) Henry, taken prisoner at the battle of Hex- 
ham and beheaded ; (3) Edmund, son of Henry, taken prisoner 
at Tewkesbury and beheaded. 



' THE END OF THE KING-MAKER: 307 

Tewkesbury. Probably the name marks the place 
where the fugitives, unable to cross the river or get 
into the town, were slaughtered by the conquerors. 
Here, it may be. Prince Edward, the last heir of the 
Lancastrian line, was slain. It seems tolerably cer- 
tain that he fell either in the battle or in the pursuit. 
Shakespeare's story — if indeed the play of Henry VI, 
be Shakespeare's — is that he was taken prisoner, and 
brought before King Edward, and that, haughtily 
maintaining his right to the throne, he was stabbed 
by the King and his two brothers, the Dukes of 
Clarence and Gloucester. 

The battle of Tewkesbury was fought on May 
4, 1471. On the twenty-second of the same month 
the body of Henry VI. was exposed to public view 
in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. It was said that 
he had died a natural death, but no one doubted 
that he had been murdered, and most people 
believed that the murderer was Richard, Duke of 
Gloucester. 

Queen Margaret, who had been taken prisoner at 
Tewkesbury, was kept in prison till the year 1476, 
when Louis XL, King of France, ransomed her by 
paying fifty thousand gold crowns. But as she was 
allowed to leave England, she was obliged solemnly 
to give up all her claims to the crown, and King 
Louis got in return for his money a surrender of all 



3oS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

her rights to the provinces which she should have 
inherited from her father and mother. She died in 
1481. 



CHAPTER IX. 

WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 

There never was anything that made a greater 
difference to the world than when books began to be 
printed, instead of being written by the hand. This 
wonderful invention was not made all at once. First 
there was printing from blocks, which is done by 
drawing or writing something on a piece of wood or 
metal, and taking an impression from it. But real 
printing began when a letter, or sometimes two or 
three letters, were made in wood or metal, put 
together in words, and then, having been covered 
with ink, were stamped on paper. These letters 
made in metal, for wood was soon given up, are 
called type. Type that was movable, i.e. could be 
put together and then taken to pieces, was the great 
secret of printing. When this was done, a real begin- 
ning was made. It is not certain who first did this. 
But it is commonly believed to have been one Guten- 
berg, who set up in business at Mentz in 1441, and in 



WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 



y^i.) 



the following year printed two small books. In 1455 
he printed a Bible which is called the Mazarin. The 
first English printer was William Caxton, who was 
born about 1422. For many years he was engaged 




CAXTON BEFORE EDWARD IV. 

in trade — he had been apprenticed to a mercer — and 
lived in Bruges, as governor of the English traders in 
that city. But he was always fond of books, and 
when he was about forty-seven years of age he began 
to translate from the French a book about the Trojan 



3IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

War. Not long after he entered the service of the 
Duchess of Burgundy (sister to our King Edward 
IV.), and on September 19, 147 1, he presented to her 
his translation, which he had by that time finished. 
She was much pleased with the book. What a great 
lady liked was sure to be popular ; so many people 
wanted to have copies that Caxton's hand, as he tells 
us himself, grew tired with writing, and his eyes 
dimmed with overmuch looking at the white paper. 
Then he began to think of printing. 

There was a printer in Bruges at this time of the 
name of Collard Mansion, who had his printing press 
in a room over a church porch. Caxton learnt the 
art from him, and the book was printed, as was also 
another, about chess, which was published in the 
following year. In 1476 Caxton left Bruges and 
returned to England (from which he had been absent 
five-and-thirty years), bringing with him a " fount "^ 
of Collard Mansion's type. 

The place which he chose for carrying on his new 
business was the "Abbey" of Westminster. When 

1 A " fount " of type is a set of type, containing a sufficient 
number of letters for the printing of a book or books. Of some 
letters there must be many more than of others, many more e's, 
for instance, than z's. We know that Caxton got his type from 
Mansion, because there are books still existing printed by both 
of them, and Caxton's first books have letters of the same shape 
as we see in Mansion's. 



WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 3!i 

we now speak of " Westminster Abbey," we mean the 
beautiful church founded by Edward the Confessor, 
as has been told in the first volume of these Stories.^ 
But at the time of which I am now writing the word 
meant much more. There was then a great house 
for monks, who were ruled by an Abbot, and all the 
buildings belonging to this were called the " Abbey." 
Among these were a gaol for the safe keeping of 
prisoners, and an almonry, where alms were given to 
the poor. Some houses near the Almonry were called 
by the same name, and in one of these, known as 
" Redhall House," Caxton set up his printing press.- 
The first book printed in this place was published in 

1477. 

For fourteen years he lived and worked in West- 
minster. He was an important person in the parish 
(St. Margaret's, Westminster), for we find his name 
signed to the parish accounts, to show that he had 
looked through them, and found that they were all 
right. And he worked hard, not only at printing 
books, but also at writing them, or rather translat- 
ing them either from the Latin or the French. The 
number that he printed and published during these 

1 Vol. i. p. III. 

^ There can still be found at Westminster a name which once 
belonged to the old " Abbey." This is the " Sanctuary." I shall 
have to say something more about this later on in this volume. 
(See ch. x.) 



312 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

fourteen years was about eighty, and a quarter of 
these he translated himself. It has been reckoned 
that these translations of his contain in all about four 
thousand five hundred pages, folio pages that is, and 
so four times as big as the pages we commonly see. 
We must remember that he did with his own hands a 
great deal of the actual work of printing. A master- 
printer now only sees that others do their work 
properly, but Caxton actually " composed," i. e. put 
the letters together into words, and " struck off" 
copies from the type when it had been composed. 

He had many great and powerful friends. King 
Edward IV. gave him money; came, it is said, to see 
his printing-office, and gave his patronage to two of 
his books. The Duchess of Burgundy, whose servant 
he had been at Bruges, also continued to be his 
friend. Perhaps, when he came to England in 1480 
on a visit to her brother the King, she may have 
gone to Westminster to see Caxton. He dedicated 
a book to King Richard III., and another to Henry 
VII., and he presented the Story of ^neas to Prince 
Arthur, King Henry's eldest son. This was in 1490, 
when the Prince was four years old. 

In 1490 Caxton seems to have lost his wife, for we 
find that a certain " Mawde Caxton " was buried in 
the churchyard of St, Margaret's. If this lady was 
his wife, they had been married nine-and-twenty 



WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER, 3i3 

years. In this year Caxton began to print a book 
called Feats of Arms, but he stopped the work in 
order to print another which has the title The Art to 
Die Well. This is just what he would have been 
likely to do if some one very dear to him died about 
this time. He went on working up to the time of 
his death. This seems to have taken place about the 
end of the year 1491. 

One Wynken de Worde, who was his chief assistant, 
and succeeded him in his business, says of a book 
published in 1492 with the title of Lives of the Fathers 
that lived in the Desert, that it had been " translated 
out of French into English by William Caxton of 
Westminster, lately deceased, and finished on the 
last day of his life." He was buried in the church- 
yard of St. Margaret. Six shillings and eightpence 
was paid for torches and sixpence for ringing the 
bells. These are much higher fees than were com- 
monly paid. He does not seem to have left much 
besides his stock of books. Fifteen copies of one of 
them he left to the parish church. These were sold 
at different prices, varying from ds. Sd. to 5^". 8d. during 
the next ten years. These prices would be equal to 
about £^ to ;f 2 105. of our money. 



3r4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 



CHAPTER X. 

THE TWO PRINCES. 

The last chapter was a pleasant change from the 
tale of wars and, too often, of wicked deeds of which 
history is for the most part made up. In this I must 
go back to the old subject, for I have to tell a very 
shocking story indeed. 

King Edward was dead, a young man, as we should 
now think him, for he was but forty-two ; but he had 
wasted his strength in riotous living. He left two 
sons, Edward, Prince of Wales, who was thirteen 
years old, and Richard, Duke of York, who was nine, 
and five daughters. Of the eldest of these five, Eliza- 
beth by name, we shall hear again. Kings as young 
as Edward, even younger, had come to the throne, 
and kept it, for a time at least, in peace. The third 
Henry was but nine ; the second Richard eleven ; the 
third Edward only fifteen. But there was trouble in 
store for the two boys, because their nearest kinsman, 
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the late King's brother, 
had begun to think that he might win the kingdom 



THE TWO PRINCES. 31 5 

for himself. His way had been cleared by the death 




RICHARD III. 



of the brother who stood next In age to King Edward 
— George, Duke of Clarence. Whether Richard had 



3i6 STOHIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had anything to do with Clarence's death I cannot 
say. Clarence was a foolish, hot-headed man ; he 
had quarrelled fiercely with the King, had been found 
guilty of treason, and had been condemned to death. 
How he died no one knows. A story has been told 
of how he was allowed to choose his manner of death, 
and that he chose to be drowned in a butt of 
malmsey wine. But this seems to have been made 
ijp long afterwards. That he was found dead in the 
Tower is certain. It is probable that the King knew 
how he came by his end, for no one was punished 
for it. There is nothing to prove that Richard was 
concerned in it. More we cannot say. That he had 
something to do with the death of his nephews cannot 
be doubted. 

When his father died young Edward was at 
Ludlow Castle, which was at that time the appointed 
dwelling of the Princes of Wales. In the course of 
a few days he set out for London, in charge of 
his uncle. Lord Rivers. Meanwhile the Duke of 
Gloucester, who was in the north at the time of his 
brother's death, hurried back. He overtook the 
young Prince at Stony Stratford on April 30, 
arrested Lord Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, a son of 
the Queen by her first marriage, and others, and 
carried his nephew up to London. For a time all 
seemed to go well. The Council acknowledged 



THE TWO PRINCES. 1^1 

young Edward as King, and such of the chief men of 
the kingdom as happened to be in London took the 
oath of allegiance to him. Richard was named 
Protector to carry on affairs of State as long as 
the King was under age. The young King, who 
had been at first entertained in the Bishop of 
London's palace, was now lodged in the Tower, as 
being more convenient. 

And now it would seem Richard, not content with 
the royal power, which he had as Protector, began to 
plot for getting the crown itself. He felt certain that 
the power would not long be his if the young King 
lived. In two or three years the boy would be old 
enough to act for himself, and then he would be 
certain to prefer to have his mother's kinsfolk about 
him as his advisers. Richard could count on a good 
deal of support. He was very popular in the city of 
London. Many of the old nobility, who hated the 
Queen's relatives as upstarts, were ready to help him. 
But one man, with whom he was on very friendly 
terms, and on whose aid he reckoned, refused to 
listen to his offers. This was William, Lord Hast- 
ings. Richard at once resolved to destroy him. The 
way he did it was very strange. 

There was a meeting of the Council held in the 
Tower. Richard came la.te to it, asked pardon for 
being after his time, and talked about some trifling 



3i8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

matters, asking the Bishop of Ely, who was there, to 
send for some strawberries out of the garden of his 
London palace, which was in a street out of Holborn, 
still called Ely Place. He then left the room, but 
returned before very long, in great trouble as it seemed. 
"What, my lords," he cried, "think ye should be done 
to them who compass my death, seeing that I am near 
in blood to the King and in charge of this realm ? " 
The other members of the Council were too much 
astonished to speak, but Lord Hastings said — " They 
deserve to die as traitors, whosoever they be." Richard 
then pulled up his sleeve and showed a withered arm, 
caused doubtless by an illness in his childhood. Very 
possibly it was not known to any but those who had 
waited upon him. Evidently it -was hidden by his 
sleeve, and he seems to have had the use of both arms, 
for he was a skilful knight. " This," he cried, " has been 
done by my brother's wife and others who have 
worked with her. See how they have destroyed my 
body by their witchcraft." " If they have done any 
such thing," said Hastings, " they deserve to be sorely 
punished." " Answerest thou me with ' ifs ' .? " cried 
Richard, furious with rage ; " I tell thee they have 
done it, and thou hast joined with them, as I will 
prove upon thy body, thou traitor." As he spoke, he 
smote with his fist upon the Council table, and a body 
of armed men rushed in. He bade them seize Hast- 



THE TWO PRINCES. 319 

ings, the Bishop of Ely, and others whom he knew to 
be opposed to his plans. Hastings was hurried out 
into one of the courts of the Tower and beheaded. 
The others were put in prison. About the same time 
Lord Rivers and some of his kinsfolk and friends were 
executed. But worse things than these remained to 
be done. 

The Queen was in sanctuary at Westminster with 
her younger son, the Duke of York, and her five 
daughters. " Sanctuary " was a place, commonly in 
the neighbourhood of a church, to which persons 
guilty of offences against the law might fly. As long 
as they remained in it they could not be touched.^ 
She had fled thither as soon as she heard of Richard's 
coming to London, and of how he had seized her 
brother. Richard maintained that a child who had 
committed no crime was not a fit person to take 
sanctuary, and the Council agreed with him. Still 
he did not like to take away the boy by force, and 
thought it better, if he could, to persuade the Queen 
to give him up. He sent, therefore, the Archbishop 
of Canterbury to do this, and the Archbishop, who 
seems to have believed that Richard meant no harm 
to his nephew, argued the matter with the Queen. 
At first she refused. She said that the child was 
sick, and needed his mother's care. Then she hinted 

1 The name of the " Sanctuary" at Westminster still remains. 



320 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that the Duke had not much love for his nephew. 
When the Archbishop declared that the boy had no 
right in the Sanctuary, she replied that her lawyers 
had advised her otherwise, and said plainly that she did 
not think the Princes were safe in the hands of their 
uncle, seeing that he would be King if they were to 
die. The Archbishop declared that he would answer, 
with soul and body, for their safety. On this the 
Queen consented to give the young Duke up. She 
bade him good-bye in much grief and fear, saying as 
she kissed him, " God knoweth when we shall kiss 
together again." The boy, who cried much on leav- 
ing his mother and sisters, was taken by the Arch- 
bishop to Richard, who pretended that he was very 
glad to see him. Glad he was to have both him 
and his brother in his power, for to have one with- 
out the other would have been useless. The young 
Duke was then sent to be with his brother in the 
Tower. 

This was on June i6. Six days afterwards a cer- 
tain Dr. Shaw, who was Richard's chaplain, preached 
a sermon at Paul's Cross, which it was hoped would 
help his plans. The preacher declared that the late 
King had been married to a certain Eleanor Butler 
before he took Elizabeth Woodville to wife, and that 
the two Princes were not his lawful children. As for 
the son of the Duke of Clarence, he had lost his 



THE TWO PRINCES, 321 

rights, because his father had been condemned for 
treason. It was hoped that the people on hearing 
this would cry out for King Richard ; but they were 
too much surprised to say anything. Richard had to 
try another plan. He sent the Duke of Buckingham, 
who was himself a descendant of Edward III., to tell 
the Mayor and citizens of London the same story 
that Dr. Shaw had told in his sermon. At the end 
of his speech a few persons, who, it is likely, had been 
hired to do it, threw up their caps and shouted, 
"Long live King Richard III.!" The next day 
Parliament met. It had been called to witness 
the coronation of Edward, but it was terrified into 
acknowledging his usurping uncle. The Duke of 
Buckingham led a deputation of the two Houses 
to Richard. They begged him to take the crown. 
At first he refused. He would sooner, he said, act 
as Protector for his nephew till the boy should be 
of age to reign himself. " Nay," said Buckingham, 
*' England will not obey a base-born boy." Then 
Richard pretended to yield. He said that he con- 
sented to be King of England and France. England 
he would rule, France he would conquer. He and 
his wife Anne, daughter of the King-maker, were 
crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury on July 5, 
nearly three months after the death of King Edward. 
And what about the two young Princes, for whose 



322 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

safety the Archbishop had pledged his body and 
soul ? No man knew for certain, but few doubted 
that Richard had ordered them to be put out of the 
way. They were never heard of again, though^ as we 
shall soon see, some people believed, or at least 
pretended, that one of them escaped. Some years 
afterwards a confession was made by two of the 
persons concerned in the murder, and published by 
King Henry VII. There were some strange things 
in this story, and it was of course to Henry's interest 
to have it made quite certain that the Princes were 
dead. But on the whole we may be satisfied that the 
story was true. Richard, it seems, sent a certain 
Green to Sir Robert Brackenbury, who was Constable 
of the Tower, with a command that he was to put the 
Princes to death. Brackenbury refused to commit 
the crime. Then Richard gave a warrant to Bracken- 
bury that he was to give up the keys of the Tower 
for one night to a Sir James Tyrrell. Tyrrell 
engaged the help of Miles Forest, one of the men 
that waited on the Princes, and of a groom of his 
own, Dighton by name. These two ruffians murdered 
the lads by smothering them with pillows, and when 
they had done the deed called Tyrrell to see the 
dead bodies. Nearly two hundred years afterwards 
some workmen found under a staircase a great chest 
in which was a quantity of bones. These were 



BOS WORTH FIELD. 323 

said by persons skilled in such matters to be the 

bones of boys who were of the same age as the 
Princes. 



CHAPTER XL 

BOSWORTH FIELD. 



Richard was not happy on the throne which he 
had bought at so dreadful a price. He made a 
progress through England to show himself to his new 
subjects, whom he tried to attract by the splendid 
show which he made. At York, to please the North- 
erners, he had the crown put upon his head a second 
time by the Archbishop of York, who rules what is 
called the Northern Province. But the people mur- 
mured against him. They could not forgive the 
crime which by this time few doubted that he had 
committed. When the crown was again put upon 
his head, they said that this was done because the 
poor lads had been murdered since his first crowning, 
and he now felt himself to be really King, 

And then he knew that there were those who were 
ready to do more than murmur. Chief of these was 
the Duke of Buckingham. This man had been ready 



324 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

enough to help in pulling down the kindred of the 
Woodvilles, whom the late King had so much favoured, 
but he was not prepared for all that Richard seemed 
ready to do. He had carried the King's train at the 
coronation at Westminster, but he had done this only 
under compulsion. He had been unwilling to come 
to the ceremony, and had sent word to Richard that 
he was sick. When the King replied that if he was 
not well enough to walk he should be carried, he saw 
that there was no help for it, and came. After the 
coronation he left London with the King, and rode 
with him as far as Gloucester. There they parted, 
Richard going on to the north, the Duke journeying 
towards Wales. He was already thinking of turning 
against his master. 

On his way he met Margaret, Countess of Richmond, 
widow of the eldest son of Owen Tudor and Queen 
Katharine, and heiress of the Beauforts. The Countess 
Margaret had a son Henry, who seemed the most 
likely person to set up against Richard. He had, 
it is true, no real claim to the crown, but then 
he might marry Elizabeth, King Edward's eldest 
daughter, and would have his wife's right to depend 
upon. This, we shall see afterwards, he actually did. 

Another enemy of Richard's with whom the Duke 
of Buckingham took counsel was that Bishop of Ely 
of whom I wrote something in the last chapter. The 



BOS WORTH FIELD. 



325 



Duke had him in his cliarge, having been told to find 
a prison for him in Wales. Richard would willingly 
have put him to death, but to kill a bishop without 
any very grave cause, and no such cause could be 
found against the Bishop of Ely, would have been a 




PROCLAMATION OF THE KING. 

very dangerous thing. The Duke had had some 
thoughts of claiming the throne for himself, for he 
too, as has been said, was of the blood royal.^ But 

1 Edward III.'s youngest son, Thomas of Woodstock, was 
created Earl of Buckingham. He had a son Humphrey who 
became earl, and died without children, and a daughter. This 
daughter was married to the Earl of Stafford. Their son 
inherited the earldom of Buckingham, and this son's son was 
the Duke of Buckingham of whom I am now writing. 



326 STOJ^IES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR Y. 

then he would not be able to win over to himself 
those who still held by the House of Lancaster. And 
as he had already had a wife (a sister of Edward IV.'s 
Queen) he could not strengthen his claim, as Henry 
could, by marrying Elizabeth of York. On the whole, 
therefore, he was inclined to favour Henry. Still he 
hesitated, till at last the Bishop of Ely, who was 
afraid that his plans might be betrayed to King 
Richard, found an opportunity of escaping, and made 
his way to France. 

Richard by this time had heard that some plot 
was being hatched against him. He sent a message 
to Buckingham, commanding him to come to London. 
The Duke had now no choice. To obey was to 
throw away his life, for Richard, he was sure, knew 
enough to condemn him. He had therefore openly 
to take up arms, though he was very far from being 
ready. He sent messengers to the two Tudors, 
Henry and his uncle Jasper, urging them to come 
over at once to England with all the men that they 
could collect and join him. He himself marched 
towards England. But everything went against him. 
The people with whom he wanted to make friends 
would not trust him. He found the roads guarded 
and the bridges broken down. When he would have 
crossed the Severn to join a force that had been 
raised in Devonshire, that river rose in such a flood 



BOS WORTH FIELD. 327 

— long afterwards remembered as '' Buckingham's 
Flood "—that he had to give up the idea. He had 
got as far as Gloucester, but he had to fall back into 
Herefordshire. Henry Tudor had come with a small 
fleet to the coast of Devonshire, but finding no one 
to welcome him, had sailed back to France. Bucking- 
ham's insurrection had altogether failed. He sought 
shelter with an old friend at Shrewsbury. But the 
friend, alarmed for his own life, or tempted, it may 
be, by the reward of ^^4000 which the King had 
offered for Buckingham's capture, betrayed him. He 
was taken in a wood, disguised in poor clothing, and 
carried to Salisbury, where the King then was. He 
asked leave to plead his cause, but Richard would not 
hear or see him, and he was beheaded. 

He had sent away his little son to another friend, 
who kept his faith better. The boy was taken^ dressed 
up as a little girl, from one place to another, and at 
last lodged with a widow lady at Hereford, who kept 
him safely till the tyrant was dead. 

Buckingham's rebellion happened in the late autumn 
of 1483. In the April of the next year, on the very 
day on which Edward IV. had died, Richard lost 
his only son, Edward, Prince of Wales, after a very 
short illness. Less than a year afterwards his wife, 
Anne, daughter of the King-maker, died, after as 
unhappy a life as woman ever had. There was some 



328 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

talk after her death of the King marr3/ing his own 
niece EHzabeth. The Pope of Rome had granted 
leave — or dispensation, as it was called — for such 
marriages to take place. But the King denied that 
he had any such intention. He named the Earl of 
Warwick, son of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, 
heir to the throne, and when it became clear that the 
poor lad was of weak mind, another nephew, the son 
of his sister Elizabeth and her husband, John de la 
Pole, who had the title of Earl of Lincoln. 

But I must make haste and finish my story. On 
August II, 1485, Henry of Richmond landed at 
Milford Haven. He did not bring with him, as he 
had once hoped to do, some French soldiers. He 
came in a single ship with a few nobles of the 
Lancastrian party, chief of whom was John de Vere, 
Earl of Oxford, and some of those of the other party 
who did not like the doings of King Richard. The 
Welsh received him with great joy, not because he 
had any right to the crown, for this he had not, but 
because he was a countryman of their own, and they 
hoped for his favour if he should come to be King. 
Richard had not at first thought that the danger was 
serious, but when he saw that Henry had many friends 
in England, and especially when he found that Sir 
William Stanley, who was very powerful in North 
Wales, made an excuse for not joining him, he began 



BOS WORTH FIELD. 329 

to bestir himself. He marched northward to Leicester, 
which he reached on August 20. The next day he 
went on towards Bosworth. The battle was fought 
on a great plain near that town, called Bosworth 
Field, otherwise Redmoor. Henry, who had been 
joined by the Talbots and other great families in the 
Midlands, had taken up his position on the east of 
this plain. He had not half as many men as Richard, 
but he trusted that Stanley, who was close at hand 
with a large force, and held himself ready to join 
either party, would be on his side. He had hopes, 
too, that other friends of the King would leave him 
when the battle once began. 

Shakespeare has described how Richard spent the 
night before the battle, seeming to see in his dreams 
the ghosts of those whom he had slain. King Henry, 
the two young Princes, and Buckingham, his last 
victim, among them, But he did not forget his duty 
as a general. It is said that, making the round of the 
camp at midnight, he found a sentinel asleep at his 
post and killed him. The next morning he set his 
line of battle in order, with his archers in the middle, 
and near them a number of cannon. He was much 
stronger than his adversary, and if only his followers 
had been faithful to him, could hardly have failed to 
win the battle. Bad man as he was, he was a good 
general and a brave warrior. He put on the armour 



330 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

which he had worn at Tewkesbury, the last great 

battle which had settled his family on the throne. 

Round his helmet he wore, as Henry V. had done at 

Agincourt, a crown of gold. 

Henry made the first movement. The Earl of 

Oxford charged that part of the line where the Duke 

of Norfolk was in command. And now the Duke 

found out how true was the warning which, as the 

story goes, he had received the night before — 

"Jockey of Norfolk, be not so bold, 
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold." 

It was so ; the Duke of Northumberland — the Percies, 
it will be remembered, were old friends of the House 
of Lancaster — who was in command of the second line, 
would not move forward to help the first. Richard 
himself now charged, bent especially on slaying the 
Earl of Richmond himself If his great rival could be 
put out of the way, all might be well. But now the 
Stanleys, who had up to this time stood apart, saw that 
it was time to act. They advanced with their force of 
three thousand men, and Richard's followers saw that 
they had changed sides and were going to attack them. 
One of them pointed out to the King what was about 
to happen, and bade him mount his horse and fly. 
If he saved himself that day, he might live to fight 
again. Richard refused to escape. " Not a foot will 
I fly so long as I live. I will die King of England," 



BOS WORTH FIELD. 33 1 

he said. Furiously did he fight till he was overborne 
by numbers, and fell dead to the ground. Among 
his followers that perished with him was the Bracken- 
bury that had been Constable of the Tower when 
the young Princes came by their end. For a time 
the pursuit was hot, and as many as a thousand men 
are said to have been slain in it. But Henry did not 
forget that he was now King of England, and called 
back his soldiers as soon as he could from the slaughter 
of their countrymen. The crown that Richard had 
worn was found hanging on a hawthorn bush. A 
knight brought it to Henry where he stood with 
Lord Oxford and others of his party. Lord Stanley 
set it on his head, and the army all over the field of 
battle shouted, " God save King Harry ! " 

Richard's body was found covered with wounds. 
It was thrown across a horse, and carried into 
Leicester, where it was buried by the sisters of a 
nunnery there. So ended the long War of the 
Roses. 

A curious story is told, which may be taken to 
show how the ill-gotten gold of the usurping King 
brought a curse with it long afterwards. He had 
slept at an inn in Leicester, and had brought his 
bedstead with him. More than a hundred years 
afterwards it was found that this bedstead had a 
double bottom, and that this was filled with gold 



332 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

coins. The landlady of the inn was murdered 
by her servants, who thus got possession of the 
treasure. 



CHAPTER XI I. 

TRUE OR FALSE? 



I HAVE to tell in this chapter two strange stories, 
so strange that we cannot be sure that we know the 
truth about them even now. 

King Henry was crowned by the Archbishop of 
Canterbury on November 7 in the same year in 
which he had conquered Richard ; about two months 
afterwards he married Elizabeth of York, and in the 
September of i486 he had a son born to him. The 
son was christened by a name dear to the Welshmen 
who had fought so bravely for him at Bos worth — 
Arthur. 

But now a new kind of trouble began. News was 
brought to London that a lad who claimed to be 
Earl of Warwick had landed in Ireland in charge of 
a certain priest of Oxford. Soon it was reported that 
he had been proclaimed King at Dublin, under the 
title of Edward VI. The real Earl of Warwick was 



TRUE OR FALSE? 



333 



in the Tower. Henry brought him out, and had him 
taken through London, where any one that chose 
might speak to him. As he had been at Court in 
King Richard's time, there must have been many who 
knew him. It seems clear that the boy in Ireland 
was not what he pretended to be. Indeed, it was 




MARRIAGE OF HENRY VII. WITH ELIZABETH. 

afterwards found out that he was one Lambert 
Simnel, son of a Thomas Simnel, who was a carpenter. 
He was tall and handsome, and had been taught to 
tell the story of how he had escaped from the Tower, 
and to behave as a Prince should. Indeed, he was 
more like a Prince than the poor boy whom Henry 



334 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

kept in the Tower. But it was easy to prove that he 
was not the Earl of Warwick ; and even if he had 
been, he had not the least right to be King of England. 
Yet a powerful nobleman, the Earl of Lincoln, took 
up his cause. He went over to Burgundy, where his 
aunt, Edward IV.'s sister, was Duchess, enlisted by 
her help two thousand soldiers under a certain soldier 
of fortune (a "soldier of fortune" was a man who 
would fight for any prince or city that was willing to 
pay him), Martin Schwarz by name, and then landed 
in Ireland. He caused "Edward VI." to be crowned, 
and then crossed over to England, taking with him as 
many Irish as he could collect and Martin Swartz's 
soldiers. Some English friends of the House of York 
joined him. Henry meanwhile had marched from 
London. The two armies met at Stoke-on-Trent ; 
Lord Lincoln, with Martin Swartz and his chief Irish 
allies, fell on the field of battle. One of the few 
leaders that escaped was Lord Lovel. He was not 
killed nor taken prisoner, but he was not heard of 
again. Two hundred years afterwards a secret cham- 
ber was found in the house of Minster Lovel (where 
the Lords of Lovel lived), and in it the skeleton of a 
man seated at a table. The pretended king, who was 
with the army, was taken prisoner. He confessed 
that he had told a false story. The King pardoned 
him, and gave him a place in the royal kitchen. 



TRUE OR FALSE 1 335 

Afterwards he was promoted. " Lambert is still 
alive," says a chronicler who wrote in the latter part 
of Henry's reign, "and has been made Keeper of 
the Hawks, after turning the spit for a while in the 
royal kitchen." 

' A few years afterwards Henry had to meet a more 
serious danger of the same kind. A handsome young 
man, with very good manners, landed from a Portu- 
guese ship at Cork. He gave out that he was 
Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two 
Princes said to have been murdered by Richard HI., 
and that he had escaped from the Tower. We do not 
know any more of his story, how he had escaped, and 
where he had been living me-anwhile. However, 
many of the citizens of Cork were satisfied that he 
was what he claimed to be, and some of the Irish 
nobles also acknowledged him. Before long the 
King of France invited him to visit him. The young 
man went, and was well received. ^ A bodyguard was 
given him, and a number of English exiles offered him 
their services. He did not, however, stop long in 
France. When Henry consented to sign a treaty 
about which he had been making some difficulties, the 
King commanded the young man at once to leave the 
country. He had been only making use of him 
to hasten the business which he wanted to get 
finished. 



336 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The Pretender, as we may call him, now went to 
Burgundy, to the same Duchess who had shown 
herself so ready to the friends of the false Earl 
of Warwick. She received him in an affectionate 
way, declaring that she was sure of his being really 
her nephew. For some time he was content to stay 
safely where he was. But the people of the country 
had very good reason to be dissatisfied. The Flemish 
merchants — Flanders, i. e. the country now known as 
Holland and Belgium, was part of the possessions of 
the Duke of Burgundy — lost a great part of their 
trade, for Henry, angry that a man who claimed his 
kingdom was so well received in Burgundy, would not 
allow them to have dealings with England. Accord- 
ingly the Pretender felt that he must do something. 
In 1495 he made an attempt to land at Deal, 
but was beaten back. He then went to Ireland, and 
with the help of some friends of the House of 
York, besieged Waterford. But the Lord Deputy who 
ruled Ireland in the name of the King's second son, 
Henry, Duke of York,^ got together some soldiers, 
and put him and his followers to flight. He was 
glad to get back to his friend the Duchess of 
Burgundy. 

But he was not to be allowed to stop long with her. 
A treaty was made between Henry and the Duke of 

^ Afterwards Henry VIII., then four years old. 



TRUE OR FALSE? 337 

Burgundy, and one of the points in it was that neither 
Prince should allow an enemy of the other to remain 
within his dominions. The Pretender had now to 
leave, but he found a friend in Scotland, where King 
James acknowledged him to be the son of Edward IV., 
and gave him in marriage a noble Scotch lady, a 
cousin of his own, Lady Catherine Gordon. Twice 
the Scottish King helped to invade England. There 
were always plenty of people on the Borders and 
elsewhere who were ready to take part in an invasion 
of England. But these expeditions did him no kind 
of good, and when the English army invaded Scotland 
in turn, the King and his people grew tired of the 
whole matter. At last a regular peace was concluded 
between the two countries by the mediation of the 
Spanish ambassador. After that the Pretender had 
to go. He first went to Ireland, but the nobles who 
had helped him before would have nothing more to 
do with him. Then he sailed to Cornwall. The 
Cornishmen, who had already rebelled against some 
new taxes which the King had demanded from them, 
joined him in considerable numbers, and he marched 
to Exeter, which city he in vain tried to take. Then 
he moved on to Taunton. But when the King's 

o 

army approached he lost heart, and taking horse, rode 
with sixty companions to Beaulieu Abbey in Hamp- 
shire. There he took sanctuary. Growing weary of 



338 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

being shut up in this place, and being promised his 
life, he came out and threw himself on the King's 
mercy. Henry took him up to London, and made 
him ride in his train through the city. After this 
he was allowed to live within the precincts ^ of the 
Palace of Westminster, not kept in custody, but 
closely watched. From time to time he was ques- 
tioned about his past history. After six months he 
managed to escape, but finding that he could not get 
away from England, gave himself up to the Prior of 
the monastery of Shene (near Richmond). The King 
again spared his life, but put him for a day in the 
stocks at Cheapside. He was also obliged to make 
a confession of his real name and birth in front of 
Westminster Hall, and again at Cheapside. This 
done, he was sent to the Tower. 

In the Tower he made friends with the young Earl, 
of Warwick, and contrived — so at least it was said — 
another plot. Four of the warders of the Tower were 
to murder the Governor, and then carry the Pretender 
and the Earl to some safe place outside England, 
where the one was to be proclaimed as Richard IV., 
while the other was to call to arms the friends of his 
father, the Duke of Clarence, and his grandfather the 
King-maker. This exhausted King Henry's patience. 

1 The "precincts" would include a considerable space of 
ground with some houses. 



TRUE OR FALSE? 339 

The Pretender was tried, not for his share in this 
last plot, but for having made war upon the King. Of 
course he was found guilty. A few days afterwards, 
having declared on the word of a dying man that his 
confession was true, he was executed. Even the poor 
young Earl of Warwick was put to death ; he pleaded 
guilty to a charge of treason, and was beheaded on 
Tower Hill. 

And now who was this man whom I have called 
the "Pretender"? According to his own confession 
he was the son of a Jew of the town of Tournay, who 
settled for a time in London, and then returned 
to Tournay ; his real name was Warbeck, Perkin 
being shortened from Peterkin, or " Little Peter.' 
The Duchess of Burgundy had seen how like he was 
to Edward IV., and being always on the look-out for 
ways of doing harm to Henry VIL, had contrived the 
plot. But there are some very strange things about 
the story. The young man was not in the least like 
what you would expect him to be if it were true. He 
was very handsome, had noble manners, and a way of 
winning the hearts of all with whom he had to do. And 
then, though we can understand why the Duchess of 
Burgundy should have taken up his cause, it is hard to 
see why James of Scotland did so. Altogether the 
matter must be left in doubt, though it is not at all 
likely that he was really Richard, Duke of York. 



340 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Perhaps he was a son of Edward IV., born before 
his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. 

Note. — When the Pretender landed in Cornwall he put his 
wife, Lady Catharine, in the Castle of Michael's Mount (near 
Penzance). She surrendered to Henry, who was kind to her, and 
made her a lady-in-waiting to his wife. On account of her 
beauty she was called " The White Rose, " a name which the 
Duchess of Burgundy had once given to her husband. After 
his death she married a certain Sir Matthew Craddock. Their 
daughter married William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FLODDEN FIELD. 



I HAVE said that peace was made between England 
and Scotland by the help of the Spanish ambassador. 
To give it a better chance of lasting, King James 
asked the English King to give him his daughter 
Margaret in marriage. For some time he had been 
unwilling to do so, for he loved a lady in his own 
country. When she died — poisoned, it is said, along 
with her three sisters by an enemy of her family — he 
delayed no longer. The two were betrothed, but as 
Margaret was very young — she was born in 1489 — 



FLO D DEN FIELD. 



341 



the marriage did not take place till August 1503, and 
she was then barely fourteen. During the rest of Henry 




A KNIGHT. 



VII.'s reign the peace lasted, though there was always 
more or less trouble on the Border, and other causes 
of complaint 'were arising from time to time. The 



342 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

most serious of these may be told, for it is an interest- 
ing story. 

There was a certain Andrew Barton, the most famous 
of the British seamen of the time. Barton had had 
the honour of commanding the fleet which had carried 
the Pretender when he was sent away from Scotland, 
but he was in fact little more than a pirate. Many 
years before certain Portuguese had plundered a 
ship belonging to John Barton, Andrew's father, 
and in 1506, though it had happened so long ago. 
King James made this an excuse for giving Andrew 
and his two brothers leave to seize and plunder 
such Portuguese ships as they could lay hold of. 
But Portuguese ships were not always to be found ; 
now and then the brothers Barton would seize an 
English merchantman, if they suspected it had 
Portuguese goods on board, and sometimes even 
without this reason. The English Government 
complained, but without effect. At last the King 
— Henry VII. had by this time been succeeded by 
his son, Henry VIII. — proclaimed the Bartons to be 
pirates, and gave his Admiral, Sir Edward Howard, 
a son of the Earl of Surrey, leave to attack them. 
In 15 10 Sir Edward, with the help of his brother 
Sir Thomas, took two of their ships in the Downs, 
and Andrew Barton was killed in the fight. King 
James demanded satisfaction for his d'eath, and, as 



FLO D DEN FIELD. 343 

may be supposed, was but ill pleased when Henry 
replied that the death of a pirate was not a matter 
with which kings should concern themselves. 

Two years afterwards the Scottish King determined 
to make war upon England, all the more readily 
because Henry had invaded France, and had, of 
course, taken the greater part of his English soldiers 
with him. He went against the advice of his wisest 
counsellors, and his wife, Queen Margaret, prayed 
him with many tears to give up his purpose. It was 
said too that he had other warnings : that St. Andrew, 
the patron saint of Scotland, appeared to him in the 
shape of an old man, and told him that the war would 
end in disaster ; and that a voice was heard calling the 
King, and the nobles who were urging him on to make 
war, to answer for their deed before God.^ Still he 
persisted in going, and took with him — a war with 
England was always popular in Scotland — the very 
largest army that had ever been gathered in the country. 

^ " ' Prince, prelate, potentate, and peer, 

Whose names I now shall call, 
Scottish, or foreigner, give ear ; 
Subjects of him who sent me here, 
At his tribunal to appear, 

I summon one and all.' 
* * -Js^ -^ * 

Then thundered forth a roll of names : 
The first was thine, unhappy James ! 

Then all thy nobles came." 



344 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

On August 22, King James with his army crossed 
the Border. If he had marched on at once, he might 
have done the enemy a vast amount of damage, for 
the Earl of Surrey, who was in command of the 
EngHsh troops, was not strong enough to meet him. 
But he wasted the time in the most foolish way, and 
so lost his chance. The weather grew wet and stormy ; 
the stock of food failed, and a great part of the army 
left him to go home, for armies could not be kept 
together in those days as well as they can now. Lord 
Surrey sent a herald challenging King James to fight 
on a certain day which he named, Friday, September 9. 
Of course there was no reason why James should wait 
so long; indeed there was excellent reason why he 
should not, namely, that his army was growing weaker, 
and Lord Surrey's growing stronger, every day. The 
Earl of Angus, who was the most famous soldier in 
the army, begged him not to accept the challenge, but 
only got the insulting answer that if he was afraid he 
might go home. 

The Scottish army was posted, in a strong place, 
where Lord Surrey did not like to attack it. What 
he did therefore was to try to draw it away. By the 
advice, it is said, of his son, Sir Thomas Howard,— 
now Lord High Admiral of England in the place of 
his brother Edward, who had been killed at Brest 
in an attempt to destroy the French fleet, — he 



FLO D DEN FIELD. 345 

marched northward, and so got between the Scottish 
King and his country. James might either have 
stayed where he was, in which case Lord Surrey 
would have been bound to attack him, or he might 
have fallen upon the English army while it was cross- 
ing a river which was in its line of march. He did 
neither, but moved from the high ground where he 
had been encamped — Flodden Edge it was called — to 
a place called Brankston, which was somewhat lower 
down. 

At foyr in the afternoon the battle began. Both 
sides had cannon, but those of the English were the 
better served of the two, and did so much execution 
among the enemy that these lost no time in coming 
to close quarters. At first it seemed as if they were 
going to win the day. The men of the Border, sturdy 
soldiers who had been used to war ever since they 
could ride a horse, fell on the right of the English 
line, where yet another Howard, Sir Edmund, younger 
brother of the Admiral, was in command. Sir 
Edmund's troops came from Cheshire ; they were 
used to be led by a Stanley rather than by a Howard, 
and they were not accustomed to Border ways of fight- 
ing. Their line was driven back and broken, and 
though Lord Dacre came up to their help with the 
English cavalry, and the Admiral, who was in command 
of the right centre, also sent them some support, they 



346 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

never quite recovered their ground. On the left of the 
English line things went very differently. Here Sir 
Edward Stanley's archers threw the Highlanders into 
confusion with their showers of arrows. The moun- 
taineers charged in vain, they could not break the line, 
and bearing as they did no armour but a shield, they 
were easily cut down by the English men-at-arms. 
Meanwhile the Admiral had advanced with his main 
force, and had beaten back, though not without a 
fierce struggle, the divisions opposed to him. This 
done, he turned to attack the Scottish King himself 
where he stood in the centre, throwing himself on 
one flank, while Stanley attacked the other, and 
Lord Surrey came on in front. The Borderers, who 
might have come to James's help, are said to have 
refused to move. They had done their part, they 
said, and would do no more. The King, with a 
splendid courage, stood firm in his place, and would 
neither fly nor yield. What followed may best be told 
in Sir Walter Scott's noble words — 

" But yet, though thick the shafts as snow, 
Though charging knights like whirlwinds go, 
Though bill-men ply the ghastly bow. 

Unbroken was the ring ; 
The stubborn spear-men still made good 
Their dark impenetrable wood, 
Each stepping where his comrade stood, 

The instant that he fell. 



THE GREAT CARDINAL. 347 

No thought was there of dastard flight ; 
Linked in the serried phalanx tight, 
Groom fought hke noble, squire like knight. 

As fearlessly and well ; 
Till utter darkness closed her wing, 
O'er their thin host and wounded King." 

The battle still went on till the night fell. Then 
Surrey drew off his men, hardly yet knowing what 
had happened. The King was lying dead, his head 
cloven by a bill-hook, and round him were hundreds 
of the best born in all Scotland. There was not a 
noble family in all the land but lost one or more of 
its sons. The survivors silently left the place where 
they had made so gallant a stand. The Scottish army 
had ceased to be. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE GREAT CARDINAL. 



In the first years of the sixteenth century, every 
one that knew about such things would have said 
that there was no man more likely to rise to high 
place in the Church than Thomas Wolsey. He was, 
it is true, but of humble birth ; but this, though it 



348 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

would have hindered him if he had wished to be a 
soldier, did not matter to a Churchman. He was sent 
to Magdalen College, Oxford,. and did very well, taking 
his degree so soon— he was but fifteen — that he was 
known as the ''Boy Bachelor." He remained at 
Oxford for some fourteen years in all — he was born 
in 147 1. When he left it he soon became a very 
important person. Bishop Fox of Winchester, who 
was one of the King's chief advisers, employed him, 
both at home and abroad. If Henry VH. was pleased 
with his shrewdness and habits of business, so Henry 
Vni. found him always a lively companion, ready to 
join in his amusements, and not without learning, for 
which Henry had a certain taste. The old King made 
him Dean of Lincoln ; the young one seemed never 
to be satisfied with heaping gifts and honours upon 
him. In 15 14 he was made Bishop of Lincoln, and 
in the course of the same year Archbishop of York ; 
fourteen years later, when Bishop Fox died, he was 
allowed to become Bishop of Winchester also. At 
the same time he was allowed to hold numbers of 
livings. These he never visited, and he had so much 
employment at Court and abroad that he seldom 
went near the dioceses which he was supposed to 
govern. Even this was not all. Certain bishoprics 
were in the hands of foreigners. As they resided 
abroad, their revenues had to be collected for them. 



THE GREAT CARDINAL. 



349 



This was managed by Wolsey, or rather by people 
whom he employed. For a time he had also a great 
share in the revenues of St. Alban's Abbey. Alto- 
gether he was the richest person in England, the 
King only excepted. We may even doubt whether 
the King himself had as great a command of money. 




RETINUE OF A GREAT MAN. 



In 15 15 the Pope made him a Cardinal,^ and in the 
same year he became Lord Chancellor. Finally he 
became the Pope's Legate in England, that is, the 



1 The College of Cardinals consisted of great Churchmen 
chosen from all countries. They are supposed to be the Pope's 
counsellors, and when the Pope dies, it is they who have to 
choose his successor. 



3SO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

person who ruled the Church there for him. This last 
appointment made him superior to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury himself. 

There was both good and bad in the use which 
Wolsey made of all these riches and honours. He 
wanted to do something great for learning, and 
accordingly he set about founding a college at 
Oxford. He was allowed to take for its use the 
property that had been given to certain other institu- 
tions, and he also gave large sums of money out of 
his own purse. If he had been able to carry out his 
plans, the college, which was to have been called 
"Cardinal" or "York College," would have been the 
most splendid in Europe. As it is, Christ Church, 
for that is the name which it actually received, is a 
very noble place, and though Henry VHI. is called 
its founder, that title should properly be given to 
Wolsey. He also founded a grammar-school in his 
native town, and had other great schemes, which he 
would certainly have carried out if he had remained 
in power. 

And then he was really anxious to improve the 
state of things in the Church of England. Many of 
the parish clergymen were quite unfit for their offices, 
and many of those who lived under a religious 
rule in the monasteries were even worse. Wolsey 
was really anxious to make them better, though 



THE GREAT CARDINAL. 351 

unfortunately he did not go the best way of setting 
about it. He did not show a good example in his 
own life; and there was certainly no man who more 
neglected his duties, seeing that he had more to do 
than ten men could possibly have performed. 

Then the show and display which Wolsey kept up 
were beyond all bounds of reason. He had such a 
train of followers and servants as was not to be seen 
in any house in the land, scarcely in the King's 
palace itself Even the persons who waited on him 
at table were of noble birth. All this splendour 
would in any case have caused much envy and 
dislike. But these were greatly increased when 
people remembered that this great man was of 
humble birth. Had he been of royal descent, much 
might have been excused which could not be par- 
doned in the "butcher's dog," as his enemies loved to 
call him. 

Much might be written about the cause of his fall, 
but to tell the story at length would not be suited to 
this book, and I shall put it very shortly. The King 
had married the widow of his elder brother Arthur. 
This was of course against law, but the Pope had 
given leave. It was the doing of the old King, who 
was very fond of money, and was unwilling to give 
back the dowry of 50,000 gold crowns which the 
Princess Katharine had broue^ht with her. And now 



352 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Henry was troubled in conscience, and doubted 
whether the marriage, even with the Pope's leave, 
had been lawful. And then he had seen some one 
else whom he would have been glad to make his 
Queen. This was a certain Anne Boleyn, daughter 
of a Norfolk knight, whose wife was a daughter of 
the Duke of Norfolk. Wolsey had at first been 
anxious that the marriage should be pronounced null, 
for he wished the King to marry a French Princess. 
But he found that it could not be managed. The 
Pope was unwilling or unable to undo what another 
Pope had done^ and also did not wish to offend the 
Emperor Charles, who, it should be said, was Queen 
Katharine's nephew, and was of course very angry at 
the way in which Henry was treating her. So Wolsey 
began to hang back. The King was furious at being 
disappointed ; Anne Boleyn hated the man who 
seemed to hinder her chance of being Queen. 

It was in 1529 that the end came. At the begin- 
ning of November, Wolsey, as Lord Chancellor, 
opened the Courts of Law in the usual way. The 
next day two great nobles came to him with the 
King's orders that he was to give up the Great Seal,^ 
and was to go to a house at Esher, which belonged 

1 The Great Seal of the Kingdom, with which the most 
important documents are signed. It is kept by the Lord 
Chancellor. 



THE GREAT CARDINAL. 353 

to the Bishops of Winchester. This was a kind of 
banishment. He went, and waited. Pailiament, 
which had not met for seven years, had been called 
together, and it ordered him to be tried for having 
taken office from the Pope without the King's leave. 
The charge was not true ; the King had not only 
given him leave, but had been very desirous that 
he should have it. This leave Wolsey had under 
Henry's own hand and seal. Yet he would not bring 
this forward, but pleaded guilty. The fact was that 
Henry again and again sent kind messages to him, 
assuring him that it was not intended to do him any 
harm, and that all would come right in the end. 
And he believed him, though he must have known 
the text, " Put not your trust in princes." The truth 
was that Henry had kind thoughts about his old 
companion, but let himself be turned by those about 
him who hated Wolsey, chief of all, by Anne Boleyn. 
If Wolsey could have seen the King, the end might 
have been different ; but this was never permitted. 
As the Cardinal had pleaded guilty, sentence was 
passed upon him. All that he had was to be for- 
feited to the King. He wrote to Henry, and begged 
that at least the Oxford College might be spared. 
To this he got no answer. And yet the King now 
and then gave him some Httle comfort. He fell ill, 
and Henry sent his own physicians to him ; and when 

A A 



354 STORTES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

they reported that his old favourite was suffering 
more from trouble of mind than from sickness of 
body, and that he would die unless he had some 
comforting words, he sent a ring with a kind message 
and bade Anne Boleyn do the same. 

About two months afterwards Wolsey received the 
King's command to go down to York, and take up 
his duties there as Archbishop. He went, staying 
for a week on his way at Peterborough, \^here on the 
Thursday in Holy Week he washed the feet of fifty- 
nine pilgrims.^ He remained at York for some seven 
months, busying himself with his duties as Arch- 
bishop. Then the last blow was given. Lord North- 
umberland brought a warrant to apprehend him for 
high treason. (He had had some quite harmless com- 
munications with the French ambassador.) He started 
to go to London, and though he was ill, would not delay 
his journey. On the third day he reached Leicester 
Abbey. The monks with their chief were standing 
ready to receive him. " Father Abbot," he said, as 
he was helped to get down from his mule, '^ I am 
come to lay my bones among you." He was taken 
at once to bed, and lay there for two days; on the 
third he prepared for death. He sent a message to 
the King, in which among other things he said : " If 
I had served my God as diligently as I have served 
^ Fifty-nine was the number of his own years. 



THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 355 

my King, He would not have given me over in my 
grey hairs." At eight o'clock in the evening he died. 
It was the 29th of November, the eve of St. Andrew, 
in the year 1530. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 

When Wolsey gave up the Great Seal, it was to 
Thomas More that the King handed it. Thomas 
More, who was then nearly fifty years of age, was one 
of the most famous men in England, as he was one 
of the very best. He was the son of a judge,i 
and had himself followed the profession of the Law. 
But he was a good deal more than a lawyer. He 
had studied at Oxford, and had been very well 
thought of as a scholar, and he was a member of 
Parliament at the early age of twenty-one. In Par- 
liament he was noted for his independence, even 

1 The old man was still alive and still able to perform his 
duties. It is related that every day the new Chancellor, before 
going to his own court, would pay a visit to that in which his 
father sat, and kneeling down would receive the old man's 
blessing. 



j:> 



6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



persuading the House of Commons to refuse, on one 
occasion, the money which the King demanded. 
This was in the days of Henry VH. When the 
younger Henry came to the throne, he soon took 
More into his service. As time went on he continued 
to rise in favour. In 1521 the King pubHshed a book 
on theology, in which More is said to have helped 
him ; and More himself wrote a book in defence of 
the King. Henry professed, and we may believe 
really felt for the time, a great affection for him. 
More was not only very learned but also very witty, 
and the King, as long as he was not thwarted in what 
he desired, could be very friendly and even affectionate. 
But More always knew how very easily all this might 
be changed. Once when the King had come unex- 
pectedly to More*s house at Chelsea, and had dined 
with him, he walked after dinner about the garden 
with his arm round his host's neck. When he was 
gone More's son-in-law, Thomas Roper, said to him 
that he must be very well pleased to have the King 
on such friendly terms with him. He had never been 
seen before to be so familiar with a subject, except 
that once he had walked arm-in-arm with Wolsey. 
" I find his Grace my very good lord indeed," was 
More's answer, "and I believe he does as singularly 
favour me as any subject within this realm. How- 
ever, son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause to 



THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 



357 



be proud thereof, for if my head would win him a 
castle in France, it should not fail to go." 

Nor did it fail to go, as we shall see, but not for a 
castle in France. The way this came about was as 
follows : the Pope would not pronounce that the 




THE GREAT BIBLE. 



King's marriage to Queen Katharine was null. 



So 



the King, having got opinions in his favour from 
sundry learned persons, had sentence pronounced to 
that effect by Thomas Cranmer, the new Archbishop 
of Canterbury. This was in May 1533, but the 
King had been already for some months married to 



358 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Anne Boleyn. Early in the next year an Act of 
Parliament was passed which declared that the realm 
of England was not under the spiritual rule of the 
Pope, and that the King was entitled to have the 
supreme power which had hitherto been exercised by 
the Pope. We must not suppose that all this was 
done on Anne Boleyn's account. The English people 
had always been jealous of the Pope's power, and the 
best English kings had been careful to see that it 
never grew too great. Thus a decree or Bull of the 
Pope, so called from the large round seal — bttlla — 
which was fastened to it, could not be brought into 
the country without the King's leave. There was 
then a good deal to make Henry think that he was 
doing right when he acted as he did. On the other 
hand, we may be sure that if the Pope had given 
way in the matter of the divorce, the course of things 
would have been very different. 

For some time More had seen something of what 
was going to happen. We may wonder that he ever 
took the office of Chancellor. Perhaps he hoped that 
the King would give up his plans if he found that 
the Pope was firmly set against them. He certainly 
did not fear, at least then, that there would be an 
absolute breaking away from Rome. And it must be 
remembered that it was not easy to refuse anything 
to King Henry, especially when he asked it in a good- 



THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 359 

humoured way. However, in May 1532 he gave up 
the Great Seal. He told the news of his giving it up 
to his wife in this way. He was at Chelsea Church 
on the day after his resignation, and had been sing- 
ing as usual in the choir. It had been the custom 
for one of his gentlemen to go to Lady More's seat, 
and to let her know that the Chancellor had left the 
church by saying, " My Lord is gone before." This 
time he went himself and said, " My Lord is gone " 
{i.e. he was no longer my lord). Lady More was 
very angry when she found out what had happened. 
Among other things she said, " Would to God I 
were a man, you should quickly see what I would do. 
What ! why, I would go forward with the best ; for, 
as my mother was wont to say, it is ever better to 
rule than to be ruled, and therefore I would not be 
so foolish as to be ruled where I might rule." All 
that Sir Thomas said to this was, " By my faith, wife, I 
dare say you speak truth, for I never found you willing 
to be ruled yet." So far the King was very friendly. 
But the end was to come soon. The new Queen was 
to be crowned on May 31, 1533, and Sir Thomas 
More was invited to be present at the ceremony. He 
would not go ; he was not satisfied, he said, of the law- 
fulness of the marriage. This year More's enemies, 
of course at the desire of the King, endeavoured to 
destroy him by what was called an Act of Attainder. 



36o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

This was a Bill brought into Parliament declaring 
that such and such a person was guilty of a cer- 
tain crime named. If the two Houses passed this 
Bill, and the King gave his assent, the person was 
taken to be guilty just as if he had been tried in the 
regular way by a judge and jury. However, the 
attempt failed. There really was nothing to bring up 
against More, and his name was struck out of the Bill. 
Then these same enemies tried to make out that 
he had taken bribes while holding his office of 
Chancellor. They failed again. There never had 
been a more honest judge upon the Bench, and More 
was easily able to show that the stories brought up 
against him were nothing at all. One may serve as 
a specimen. It was said that he had received from a 
certain widow-lady, who had a suit in his court, a 
New Year's present of a pair of gloves with forty 
gold pieces. The lady had sent the gloves and the 
money, hoping, we may suppose, -to bespeak the 
Chancellor's favour. He returned the money with 
this message — 

" It would be against good manners to refuse a 
lady's gift ; therefore I take the gloves, but as for the 
linijtg, I utterly refuse it." 

The next attack was one which could not fail. In 
April 1534 Parliament passed an Act, declaring 
that the King's marriage with Katharine was null, that 



THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 361 

his marriage with Anne Boleyn was lawful, and that 
any child of his by Anne had the right of succession 
to the throne. (A child, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, 
had been born in September 1533.) It was also pro- 
vided that any person might be called upon to take 
an oath that he assented to all these things, and that 
if he refused to do so he was guilty of treason. This 
oath More was at once called upon to take. He 
refused. He would swear, he said, to the succession, 
but the oath as it stood was against his conscience. 
Nothing could move him. When the Duke of 
Norfolk warned him that it was dangerous to resist 
the King, quoting the text, " The wrath of a King 
is death," " Is that all .? " he replied. '' Then there is 
no more difference between your Grace and me, than 
that I shall die to-day and you to-morrow ; and 
'tis surely better to offend an earthly king than the 
King of heaven." For four days he was put in the 
charge of the Abbot of Westminster, the King hoping 
that he might be persuaded. As he still refused, he 
was sent to the Tower. The Lieutenant of the Tower 
apologized to him for not making him as comfortable 
as he could wish. The King, he said, would be 
displeased. " Good Master Lieutenant," said More, 
" whenever I find fault with the entertainment which 
you provide do you turn me out of doors." 

For many months he was kept in prison, many 



362 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

persons trying to frighten or persuade him. But 
they came in vain. He could not act against his 
conscience. On July i, 1535, he was brought to trial. 
He defended himself well, but in those days a 
man accused of treason was never acquitted, and the 
jury, after but a few minutes' consideration, found 
him guilty. The Lord Chancellor was about to 
pronounce sentence, when the prisoner stopped him. 
" My lord," he said, " when I was towards the law, the 
manner was to ask the prisoner whether he could 
give any reason why sentence should not be pro- 
nounced against him." The Lord Chancellor had to 
own that he was wrong, though of course nothing 
that More could say could make any difference. He 
was taken back to the Tower with the edge of the axe 
turned towards him. When he reached the wharf 
where he was to land, his daughter Margaret Roper 
rushed through the guard and threw her arms round 
his neck, crying out, " My father, my father ! " He 
blessed her, and sought to comfort her. Still she clung 
to him, till the rough soldiers themselves were in tears. 
After this he had not long to wait for his release. 
In the early morning of July 6, the King's 
messenger came to him with the tidings that he must 
die that day at nine o'clock. He heard the message 
with calmness. He would have dressed himself in 
his best clothes — the clothes belonged by custom to 



THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 363 

the executioner, — for, as he said, " if they were of cloth 
of gold I should think them well bestowed on him 
who should do me so singular a service." He was per- 
suaded, however, to change them for a frieze gown ; but 
he sent the executioner a gold coin. When he came to 
the scaffold, he thought that it looked weakly built. 
" Lend me thy hand. Master Lieutenant," he said, 
" and see me safe up ; as for my coming down, let me 
shift for myself." He said the fifty-first Psalm (" Have 
mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness "), 
and then said to the executioner, who had asked his 
pardon, as was the custom, that it was the greatest of 
services. "Pluck up thy spirits," he added, ''and be 
not afraid to do thy office. My neck is very short ; 
see that thou strike not awry for thy credit's sake." 
And yet again, bidding him hold his hand a moment, 
till he should put his beard out of the way, " for that 
is no traitor : it hath not offended his Highness." 

His Highness was playing backgammon with 
Anne Boleyn when the news of his old friend's 
death reached him. " Thou art the cause of this 
man's death," he said to her in an angry tone, and 
left the room. Whatever he felt did not prevent him 
from seizing the dead man's house and goods. But 
it added to the aversion that was growing up in his 
mind against the Queen herself. In less than a year 
she had followed More. 



364 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Margaret Roper got possession of the severed 

head. She had it embalmed and placed in a casket. 

When she was dying it was put in her arms, and it 

was placed in her coffin. 

" Mom broaden'd on the borders of the dark, 
Ere I saw her, who clasp'd in her last trance 
Her murder'd father's head." 

Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 

When Henry VHI. died (January 28, 1547) 
there was no doubt about who was to succeed him. 
It was his son Edward, born of his third Queen, Jane 
Seymour, whom he had married after the death of 
Anne Boleyn. Edward was but eight years old 
when he came to the throne, and nearly four months 
short of fifteen when he died. What his character 
really was it is not easy to say. That he was very 
much bent on having his own way is clear ; it is just 
what we should expect from the son of such a father. 
We are told that he was " inclined to generosity." 
It has been said that he was unfeeling, because he 



THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 365 

records in his diary without a word of pity or sorrow 
that his uncle had been executed. I am not sure 




EDWARD VI. 



that this is fair. A young boy, if he wrote such a 
thing down at all, probably would write it in the very 
shortest way. And he had been in the midst of such 



366 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

things ever since he was old enough to take notice of 
what was happening round him. Beyond all doubt he 
was clever. " He begins to wish to understand what 
is going on," says the person who describes him as 
inclined to be generous ; while a physician who was 
called in to attend him during his last illness says 
that his knowledge of Greek and Latin and of other 
matters was quite extraordinary for his years. He 
showed his fondness for learning, not only by diligently 
following his own studies, but by taking great interest 
in the education of others. He had something to do 
with the foundation of grammar schools, many of 
which are called by his name. The most important 
of all, and one in which he took a particular interest, 
was Christ's Hospital in London. This still flourishes, 
and is often called the Blue Coat School^ on account of 
the dress which the boys wear. 

Another thing that he cared for even more than 
he cared for his books was his religion. A great 
change had been taking place in England, and else- 
where also, in what men believed since the early years 
of the sixteenth century. It had indeed begun long 
before, but I have said nothing before about it, 
because it is not a matter that I care to write about 
in such a book as this. Even now I will say no more 
than that there was one party which held by the 
old or Roman belief about Christian doctrines, and 



THE BO Y-KING AND THE THREE- WEEKS QUEEN. 367 

another which held by the new or Reformed beh'ef.^ 
The young King was very strongly attached to the 
party of the Reformers, and was anxious that, what- 
ever happened to himself, this should continue to 
rule the country. As time went on, it became very 
plain that he could not live very long. In the spring 
of the year 1552 he had an attack of both small-pox 
and measles, was often ill during the summer, and 
caught so bad a cold in the autumn that he never 
recovered from it. What was there to be done ? 
Naturally his successor would be the Princess Mary, 
daughter of Katharine of Arragon. But Mary held 
most firmly by the old faith, and would not so much 
as listen to the preaching of the new. As she was 
seven-and-thirty years old, and was as determined to 
have her way as her father had been, she would 
certainly undo all that had been done in setting 
forward the Reformed faith. Then there w^as the 
Princess Elizabeth. She was of the party of the 
Reformers, but it would be very difficult to get 
England to accept her instead of her elder sister. 
And she too was of age — she was two-and-twenty — 
and with a much stronger will than the great nobles 

^ This had much to do with what has been said about King 
Henry breaking away from the Pope. But Henry, though he 
did this, never held the Reformed doctrines ; on the contrary, 
he persecuted those who did hold them. For the most part, 
however, the old faith went with obedience to the Pope, and 
the new with breaking away from him. 



368 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of her brother's Council Hked, anxious as they were to 
keep power in their own hands. There was a Scotch 
cousin indeed, Mary, daughter of James V. of Scotland, 
and so grand-daughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry 
VIII.'s sister. We shall hear of her again. At this 
time she was in France, and was to be married, when 
old enough, to the Dauphin, or eldest son of the King 
of France. It was quite out of the question that she 
should be Queen of England. The most powerful 
of King Edward's advisers, John Dudley, Duke of 
Northumberland,^ chose for the future Queen Lady 
Jane Grey, eldest daughter of the Marquis of Dorset 
and his wife Frances Brandon, Frances Brandon being 
the daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 
and Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VHI. 
First he brought about her marriage to his own son, 
Guildford Dudley. She was fifteen, and the bride- 
groom two years older. This was in May 1553. 
Edward did not particularly like Lady Jane ; perhaps 
he was jealous of her, for she was even more learned 
than himself.2 g^^ j^g ^g^g persuaded to name her 

^ This was not the Percy title, of which we have heard 
before. The Percies were in disgrace. 

^ She could speak French and Itahan ; could write Latin 
very well ; had more than once spoken Greek, and could under- 
stand Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. All this we know from 
a very learned man, Roger Ascham, who found her one day sit- 
ting at home reading Greek, while all her family were hunting 
deer. 



THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 369 

as his successor, because she would hold by the new- 
faith. Accordingly he allowed a deed to be drawn 
up by which the crown was to go first to any son 
there might be of Frances Brandon, then to Lady 
Jane Grey, then to Lady Jane's sons, then to her 
sisters, and so on. As Frances Brandon had no 
sons, this was to leave the crown to Lady Jane. The 
judges were called in to put this in proper shape. 
They said that it could not be done. The matter 
was settled by Act of Parliament and could not be 
altered except by Act. At last they consented, if 
they had an order to do it and a pardon, for it was 
high treason, under the Great Seal. The Council all 
signed it. Archbishop Cranmer last of all ; he was 
most unwilling to do it, knowing that the King's 
sisters had the better right, but the dying boy begged 
him so earnestly to do so for the sake of religion that 
at last he gave way. 

Edward died on July 6. Poor Lady Jane knew 
nothing of what had been going on. Even the 
King's death was kept from her for a time. Then her 
father and mother, with the Duke and her husband, 
came and explained what was done, and falling on 
their knees, did homage to her as their Queen, 
Astonished and troubled, she fainted away. For a 
time, after coming to her senses, she refused to 
consent. But she could not hold out against the 



P3 B 



370 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

persuasions and even threats of all her family, and 
gave way. That evening — it was the loth of July — 
she was proclaimed, but no one cried, God save the 
Queen ! 

Her reign, if it can be called a reign, lasted little 
more than two weeks. Nobody cared for her, or 
indeed knew anything of her. What they did know 
of her father-in-law, who, they were sure, had set the 
whole affair going, they did not like. Even he saw 
that the thing was hopeless, and proclaimed Queen 
Mary at Cambridge. Lady Jane and her husband 
were sent to the Tower. At first Mary meant to spare 
their lives. But there were insurrections against her. 
One, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, for a time seemed 
dangerous. When this had been put down, the two 
prisoners were executed, Dudley on Tower Hill, 
Lady Jane, on account of her royal descent, within the 
walls of the Tower. The day was February 12, 1554. 



CHAPTER XVn. 

THE RIVAL QUEENS. 

I HAVE said nothing about the reign of Queen 
Mary. It was a dismal time for England. The 
Queen, who had suffered herself on account of her 
religion, to which she was indeed sincerely attached, 
was bent upon bringing her subjects back to the old 



THE RIVAL QUEENS. 



371 



faith. Many who refused were cruelly put to death. 
About these things, however, you will have to read 




QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



elsewhere. I must mention two things only : that 
Mary, very much against the will of her subjects, 



372 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

married Philip II., King of Spain, and was not at all 
happy in her marriage ; and that the town of Calais 
was taken by the French in the month of January, 
1558. The Queen was much distressed at this loss, 
and is said to have declared that after her death they 
would find " Calais " written on her heart. She died 
in the month of November that same year ; and to 
the great joy of the nation was succeeded by her 
sister Elizabeth. 

There was much to make people hopeful, but there 
were also many difficulties in the way. The new 
Queen's title to the Crown was doubtful, and there 
was a great party in England, not half or nearly half 
the people, but still numerous, which did not wish 
well to her. Both at home and abroad things had 
been much mismanaged. There was no money in 
the Treasury, and England was at war with France, 
not for any object of her own, but to suit the plans of 
King Philip of Spain. And the new Queen herself 
was, in some respects, a strange person. She knew 
how to choose good counsellors, and, on the whole, 
she trusted them, and listened to their advice. 
William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was one of her 
ministers during nearly the whole of her reign — in 
fact, from her coming to the throne, till he died, on 
August 4, 1598. 

But she had very bad favourites, and sometimes she 



THE RIVAL QUEENS. 373 

would let them lead her into very dangerous positions. 
She was bent on doing great things for England, but 
sometimes she was so mean that she would not fur- 
nish her soldiers and sailors with proper pay and food. 
And she was foolishly vain — vain of her learning, of 
which she really had a good deal, and vain of her 
beauty, which was nothing very remarkable, though 
all her courtiers, good and bad, spoke to her and of 
her, and that to the very end of her life, as if she was 
the most lovely creature under the sun. 

But the person who really was her greatest danger, 
and of whom, at the same time, this vanity of hers 
made her most jealous, was Mary Stuart of Scotland. 

When I last mentioned Mary, it was just before 
the death of Edward VI. She was then betrothed to 
Francis, eldest son of King Henry II. of France, 
The marriage took place in 1558. In the following 
year King Henry died, and her husband succeeded 
him. Mary, who was now Queen of France, assumed 
the arms and style of Queen of England. This was 
a clear denial of Elizabeth's title. In 1560 her husband 
died. Eight months afterwards Mary came to Scot- 
land. She was only nineteen, very beautiful and 
charming, very accomplished, and in a degree learned 
— she had quite a large library of books, considering 
the age. But she led a very troubled life. There was 
the same division in Scotland as there was in England, 



374 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

between the favourers of the old faith and the favourers 
of the new ; and Mary, unlike her cousin Elizabeth, be- 
longed to the old. This made her the hope of those who 
hated Elizabeth. She was, in any case, the next heir 
to the English Crown, and many believed that it 
rightfully belonged to her now, partly because they 
held that Elizabeth's mother had not been properly 
married, and partly because she, as a heretic, was 
not qualified to reign. In 1565 Mary married a 
certain Lord Darnley, a foolish and ill-behaved 
young man, with whom she soon began to quarrel 
In the following year she had a son, of whom we 
shall hear again. EHzabeth was troubled at the 
news. " The Queen of Scots," she cried, " hath a fair 
son, while I am but a barren stock." She had refused 
to marry, though her subjects had time after time 
urged her to do so, and though she amused herself by 
encouraging various suitors, some of them foreign 
princes, among them a brother of the French King, 
Henry III., and some of them English nobles, as 
William Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and Robert 
Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley is said to have 
procured the murder of his wife, Amy Robsart, in 
order to clear the way for his marriage to Elizabeth. 
But she could never resolve to give up her liberty, 
and at the same time she was really afraid that her 
marriage would injure the country. All the other 



THE RIVAL QUEENS. 375 

parties, their own hopes being gone, would have 
joined together against her and her husband. 

Mary, with her son to come after her, was now a 
really dangerous rival, and if she had been a wise 
woman, could hardly have failed to make good her 
claim to the Crown. But a wise woman, happily, it 
may be, for this country, she was not. She had done, 
as we have seen, a very foolish thing in choosing 
Darnley for a husband, but worse was to follow. He 
refused to attend the christening of the young Prince. 
Afterwards he fell ill of small-pox, and Mary went 
to see him, and behaved very affectionately to him. 
When he could be moved, he was brought to a 
house outside the walls of Edinburgh, called the 
Kirk of Field, because it had once been a house of 
monks. It was a small, ruinous place. Mary slept 
on the first floor ; her husband was below. To all 
appearance she was very loving to him. But a few 
days after he came into the house, he was warned 
that, unless he got away at once, he would never 
leave it alive. On February 9 — i. e. twelve days 
after Darnley came to Kirk of Field — there was 
a wedding of two of the royal servants at Holyrood 
Palace, and a ball afterwards. The Queen was at 
the wedding and at the ball ; she went in the evening 
to bid her husband good-night, but she slept at the 
palace. That night Kivk of Field was blown up 



376 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with gunpowder. Some of the servants were found 
dead among the ruins. But Darnley's body was 
discovered eighty yards from the house, with that of 
his page. They were dressed in their shirts only ; 
neither showed any marks of scorching. Indeed there 
were no signs to show how they had come by their 
death. That they had been murdered was plain. 

One thing comes out quite clearly, when, very 
unwillingly and after a long delay, the Queen 
ordered an inquiry to be made into the affair, that 
the man who had plotted the murder was a certain 
James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Whether Mary 
herself was also guilty was doubted then, as it is 
doubted now. It is needless to say any more, than 
that, little more than three months afterwards, May 
15, 1567, she married the murderer. Whether she 
was guilty or not, the suspicion was so strong that, 
in Scotland at least, it ruined her hopes. For a time 
it looked as if there might be civil war. Two armies, 
one led by Mary and Bothwell, the other by the nobles 
who were her enemies, actually met. But there was 
no fighting. Mary's soldiers left her, and she had to 
yield herself prisoner, and a few weeks later was shut 
up in Lochleven Castle and compelled to give up the 
crown. In the year following she escaped, but her 
friends were defeated at Langside (just a year after 
her marriage), and she had to take refuge in England. 



THE RIVAL QUEENS. 377 

In England she remained for nineteen years, taken 
from castle to castle, and, wherever she was, a cause 
of anxiety and danger to Elizabeth. In 1570 the 
Pope solemnly declared that Elizabeth did not belong 
to the Church, and that she was not rightfully Queen 
of England. This turned against her many Roman 
Catholics who up to that time had been loyal. 
Abroad the great Roman Catholic rulers were her 
enemies, and, if they could have given up their 
jealousies and united against her, she could hardly 
have held her own. Then plot after plot was made 
in England against her life. With all these things 
Mary Stuart was more or less mixed up. She knew 
about many of them, and it; was to put her upon the 
English throne that all were made. Again and 
again EHzabeth was urged to get rid of her. If Lord 
Burleigh had had his way, she would have been 
executed long before the end of the nineteen years. 

At last a plot was discovered in which she was 
proved, by the testimony of her own handwriting, if 
the English ministers of state were to be believed, to 
have had a part. One Anthony Babington, who had 
been one of Mary's pages, and had been charmed by 
her, as were all who came near her, John Ballard, a 
Jesuit priest, who had obtained the Pope's leave for 
the assassination of Elizabeth, and others conspired to 
murder the Queen, and to raise the country for Mary 



37S STORIES FROM ENGLISH IIISTOR Y. 

Stuart. Babington wrote to Mary, telling her of 
what had been planned, and she sent him an answer, 
in which she approved of his plans, and urged him to 
carry them out with all speed. But the English 
ministers knew what was being done, — they had spies 
everywhere, — and at the proper time arrested the 
conspirators. Mary's letter was found among their 
papers, and Babington's letter to her in her room, 
which was searched during her absence. Of course 
all these things are doubted or denied by those who 
take Mary's side. More need not be said. She may 
not have been guilty, but Elizabeth had only too 
much reason for believing that she was. The Queen 
had many doubts as to what she should do. She 
hated the idea of having to put her cousin to death ; 
but then, as she said to herself, it was " Strike, or be 
stricken." If it could have been done without her 
knowledge it would have pleased her best. At last 
she gave a half consent, and on February 8, 1587, 
Mary Stuart was beheaded. 



IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 379 



* CHAPTER XVIII. 

IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 

No man was more hated in England during the 
second half of the sixteenth century than Philip II., 
King of Spain. Men remembered how busy he had 
been in the cruel persecution which had been carried 
on during the reign of his wife, Queen Mary. They 
knew that he was always on the watch to recover 
the power which he had lost at Mary's death, that he 
hoped to conquer and enslave their country, and that 
he had plotted more than once the death of their 
Queen Elizabeth. And in the minds of many there 
was a feeling at work which was not less strong than 
hatred. This was the hope of gain. Spain had 
become, since the discovery of America, marvellously 
rich. The Gulf of Mexico and the neighbouring seas 
were called the "Spanish Main." Ships came in 
numbers from thence, bringing treasure, chiefly silver, 
to fill King Philip's treasury. It is no wonder that 
bold English seamen began to think that it would be 
a fine thing if they could at the same time do damage 



38o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to the great enemy of their country and enrich them- 
selves. One of the plans they had was to seize the 
treasure-ships as they sailed across the sea ; another, 
bolder and more dangerous, but, if it succeeded, 
certain to be even more profitable, to plunder the 
settlements on the Main from which the ships were 
wont to sail. 

The most famous of these adventurers was Francis 
Drake. He was a Devonshire lad, born in 1545, the 
son of a yeoman, who was a Protestant preacher, and 
afterwards became Rector of Upchurch in Kent. 
The elder Drake had, it is said, been a sailor himself, 
and the son went to sea when quite a young boy. 
He was apprenticed to a master-mariner, who traded 
with France and Holland. His master, dying, left 
him his vessel, and young Francis began business on 
his own account. This, however, he soon gave up, 
to serve, under one leader or another, in voyages 
across the ocean. A fine story might be told about 
every one of these voyages, and about others which 
Drake made on his own account ; but I have to be 
brief, and must be content with telling the tale of one 
expedition. 

In November, 1577, Francis Drake sailed out of 
Plymouth harbour with five ships, not one of them 
of more than 100 tons burden. It was pretended 
that he was going on a trading voyage to Egypt, but 



IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 381 

it was scarcely a secret that he was really bound for 




SHIPS IN A STORM. 



the Spanish Main. The Queen had helped him with 
money in fitting out his ships, and many of the chief 



382 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

nobles about the Court had taken shares in the 
venture. 

On his way out a terrible thing happened. The 
Queen had tried to keep the help which she gave to 
the expedition a secret from her chief minister, Lord 
Burleigh. She knew that the thing was not to his 
liking, and that he would try to stop it. The fact 
was that he wanted England to remain at peace with 
Spain, and that this could not be if Drake was not 
only permitted to sail, but even helped by the Queen. 
Lord Burleigh found out what was going on, but he 
could not stop the expedition. All that he could do 
was to try to make it fail. He employed a man, 
Thomas Doughty by name, whose business it would 
be to do all the harm he could to Drake and his 
venture. Doughty soon went to work ; a deadly 
quarrel grew up between him and his chief; things 
went on from bad to worse, till Drake, feeling sure 
that unless he got rid of the cause of the trouble the 
whole business would be ruined, resolved to act. 
When he reached the Straits of Magellan, he brought 
Doughty to trial on a charge of treason. The court, 
which consisted of officers of the ships, with the 
second-in-command as their chief, found the accused 
guilty. Drake and Doughty had been close friends. 
They now took the Holy Communion together ; 
Doughty kissed the Admiral in token of his forgive- 



IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 383 

ness, and then knelt down at the block. The execu- 
tioner dealt him a blow with the sword, and holding 
up the severed head, cried out, " Lo ! this is the end 
of traitors." 

This terrible duty done, Drake set sail again. He 
passed through the Straits of Magellan without loss, 
but when he had reached the Pacific a dreadful storm 
burst upon his little squadron — three out of the five 
ships which had sailed from Plymouth had been 
broken up. One of the three, the Marygold^ after 
three weeks' struggle with the weather, went down 
with all hands, another, the Elizabeth, was taken back 
to England by the second-in-command. Drake was 
left alone with the Pelican, now named the Golden 
Hind. 

Slowly he made his way up the western coast of 
South America. He sailed into the harbour of 
Valparaiso, seized a ship laden with gold and 
provisions, and took all that was worth taking in the 
town itself. At other points on the coast he laid 
his hands on sundry prizes, and just missed getting 
hold of others. The country was becoming alarmed, 
and Drake, who had been hoping to be joined by the 
Elizabeth, taken home, as we know, by its captain, 
resolved to act by himself. He boldly entered the 
harbour of Lima, and searched all the vessels that 
were in it for treasure. He found nothing, but he 



384 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

heard of" a prize which, if he could only secure it, 
would repay him for all his labours. A treasure-ship 
had been sent off some fortnight before to Panama. 
For three days a dead calm kept him where he was, 
and almost betrayed him into the hands of the 
Spaniards. Then a breeze sprang up, and he started 
in pursuit. The treasure- ship had a great start, but 
the Golden Hind was a fast sailer. At Payta, near 
the northern boundary of Peru, he was only two 
days behind ; on March I his look-out man, his own 
nephew, John Drake, spied the prize. All day he 
followed her unseen ; w^hen it was dark he ranged 
alongside, and took her without having to strike a 
blow. It took three days to count and transfer the 
booty. When they came to reckon their gains, they 
found that they had secured thirteen chests of 
piasters,^ eighty pounds weight of gold, a great store 
ot precious stones, and uncoined silver in such 
quantities that it served to ballast the ship. 

After such a piece of good fortune the best thing 
to do was to go home. Another capture he made, 
and this was of two pilots who had with them the 
charts by which the Spanish ships were accustomed to 
navigate the Pacific. Then he turned homewards, 
but the thought came into his mind that he might go 

^ A piaster, or " piece of eight," was of much the same value 
as a dollar, i. e. a little more than \s. 



IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 385 

by the North-West Passage,^ and so gain the glory of a 
great discovery. Accordingly he sailed northward, and 
reached about 45° north latitude, when the increasing 
cold, and the look of the land, which showed no 
prospect of a passage eastward, made him turn back. 
He coasted along to where the city of San Francisco 
now stands. Thence he boldly made for the Moluccas, 
three thousand miles away across the unknown 
Pacific. For more than two months the voyagers 
were out of sight of land. When they reached it they 
were by no means out of danger. Their narrowest 
escape was early in 1580, when the Goldeft Hind sirnck 
on a reef near one of the islands of the Celebes 
group. For nearly a day and a night it seemed that 
the great voyage was to end in shipwreck after all. 
Drake began to lighten the ship, a painful business 
when the cargo was so precious. Suddenly the wind 
changed, and the Golden Hind slipped back into deep 
water. After refitting in Java, Drake set his face 
homeward. We, who are used to go round the v/orld 

^ It has been always beheved that there was a short way to 
the Eastern Coast of Asia, going westward from Europe, sailing 
round the north of the continent of North America, and so 
getting into the Pacific. A reward was offered to any one who 
should discover such a passage, and was actually paid to 
Captain McClure between forty and fifty years ago, but the 
discovery was practically useless, as the way would for ninety- 
nine years out of a hundred be blocked with ide. 

c c 



386 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

in less than seventy days, read with surprise that the 
journey took him the best part of a year. It was not 
till September 28, 1580, that the Golden ///;^<^ reached 
Plymouth. Drake had been away from home nearly 
three years. 

For a time it seemed as if the great sailor was to 
receive a very poor welcome at home. King Philip 
was of course furiously angry at what had happened, 
and had instructed his ambassador to demand justice. 
No news of Drake had reached England. There had 
been one report, that he had been taken by the 
Spaniards and hanged, another that his ship had gone 
to the bottom. Lord Burleigh hoped that either one 
or the other of these might be true. As for the 
Queen, she solemnly declared to the Spanish am- 
bassador that she had had nothing to do with the 
expedition, and that when the pirate — for so the 
Spaniards called him — came home he would be 
severely punished. And now the "pirate" had come. 

Drake had friends at Court, and they warned him 
to be on his guard. He refused to take his ship into 
Plymouth harbour, keeping her where, if need should 
be, she could escape. K week afterwards the Queen 
sent for him. He went, but did not go empty. He 
carried with him some of the best of his spoils. 
When he reached London he found that alarming 
news had come from Spain. King Philip had seized 



■ IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 387 

Portugal, and had landed some soldiers in Ireland. 
Burleigh and his friends were terribly frightened, but 
the Queen heard enough from Drake to give her 
fresh courage. He told her what he had done, and 
showed her how easily it might be done again. 

The Spanish ambassador still called for justice, 
and the Queen spoke him fair. An account, she 
said, should be taken of the treasure brought home. 
His master should have what belonged to him. An 
account was taken, but Drake was allowed to take 
^10,000 out of it for himself Then the Golden Hind 
was brought round from Plymouth to the Thames, 
and everybody in London flocked to see it. The 
Queen still answered the ambassador with excuses 
and promises, but she had made up her mind to stand 
by her bold servant. In April, i58i,she let every- 
body know it by going down to Deptford, where the 
Golden Hind had been hauled ashore, and making 
Drake a knight. His ship was to be preserved as a 
trophy. 

Great schemes for carrying on the work which 
Drake had begun were made. But now the Queen 
hung back. The schemes would cost money, and 
she did not like spending it. They meant open war, 
and from open war she still shrank. 

At last, in September, 1585, Drake was afloat again. 
He did damage at various places on the coast of 



388 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Spain, and then sailing to the West Indies, burnt 
three of the chief Spanish settlements. When he 
came home again England was in great danger, for 
King Philip had been steadily preparing fresh forces 
to subdue her. Drake was put in command of a 
squadron, with which he boldly sailed into the 
harbour of Cadiz. He burnt there, it was said, 
10,000 tons of shipping, — this he called "singeing 
the King of Spain's beard," — afterwards sailing to 
the Azores to capture Philip's own merchantman, the 
San Filippe, with a cargo worth a million of money. 
In my next chapter I shall have something more to 
say about Drake. For the present, all that remains to 
be told is, that he sailed in 1595 with another ex- 
pedition, which was to act against Spain in the West 
Indies, and that he died on board his ship, off 
Portobello, on January 28, 1596. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 



England in the days of Queen Elizabeth was, 
we may say, full of great men. It was an age when 
great things had to be done, and men were found 



THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 389 

ready to do them. If Philip Sidney, of whom I am 
going to say something in this chapter, does not 
stand in the front rank of EHzabeth's heroes, as they 
may be called, it was because his life was cut short. 
In all the company there was no one more noble. 

Philip Sidney was born in the year in which Lady 
Jane Grey was beheaded ; he had his name " Philip," 
given him by way of compliment to the Queen's 
husband, Philip of Spain. His father, Henry Sidney, 
might very well, but for his prudence, have been 
brought to destruction in the Duke of Northumber- 
land's attempt to set the Princess Mary aside and to 
put Lady Jane in her place. He had married the 
Duke's eldest daughter ; he had been the royal 
boy's closest companion, and he must have been 
present when the young King was persuaded to 
leave the crown away from his sisters. Indeed we 
are told that Edward died in his arms. He wisely 
took no part in the events that followed, but retired 
with his wife to his house at Penshurst in Kent. 
There on November 29, 1554, Philip was born. He 
was sent to Oxford before he was fifteen ; from 
Oxford he went to Cambridge ; when he was eighteen, 
having learnt, if we are to believe his biographers, 
everything that could be taught him in England, he 
began his travels in Europe. The first place at 
which he stopped was Paris, where the French King, 



390 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Charles IX., professed to be so much pleased with 
him, that he made him one of his gentlemen-in- 
waiting. Very soon afterwards took place the 
dreadful slaughter of the Protestants in Paris, known 
as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.^ Philip had a 
narrow escape, but saved his life by taking refuge in 
the house of the English ambassador, Sir Francis 
Walsingham. Walsingham's daughter Frances after- 
wards became his wife. After three years of travel 
he returned to England, and soon became one of the 
first favourites at Court. He was exceedingly hand- 
some, and had most gracious manners ; he was 
learned, he could speak the three chief languages 
of Europe, French, Spanish, and Italian ; he was a 
good dancer and a fine musician, and he wrote verses 
which, then at least, every one admired. It was the 
fashion, as I have said, to flatter the Queen, and to 
speak of her as the wisest, the best, and the most 
beautiful of women. Philip Sidney did this, which 
seems to us rather absurd, very well, and the Queen, 
who at fifty was as vain as she could have been at 
fifteen, spoke of him as "her Philip." But the young 
man was a great deal more than a clever courtier. He 
was sent more than once as an ambassador to transact 
important business, and he did it with the utmost 
discretion. A man of twice his age could not have 
1 August 24, 1572. 



THE PERFECT KNIGHT 



391 



been more prudent. It was truly said of him that 
" from a child he started into a man, without ever 
being a youth." 

How wide was his reputation may be seen from 
the fact, that in 1585 he was named among the 




GENTLEMAN AND IIIS ATTENDANTS. 



competitors for the crown of Poland. The Poles 
used to elect their own King, a plan which sounds 
reasonable enough, but actually worked very badly ; 
for as the choice had to be unanimous, there was 
nothing for it but for the majority to put the minority 



392 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to death. Elizabeth did not like to lose the very 
finest gentleman about the Court ; perhaps she did 
not think the place was good enough for him ; possibly 
she was jealous of him. Anyhow she refused to let 
him compete for the honour. 

In 1586 he joined the English army which Elizabeth 
sent in that year to help the Protestants of Holland 
against Philip II. The Low Countries, once the 
possession of the Dukes of Burgundy, now belonged 
to Spain, and the people had been fighting for many 
years for their liberty, especially the liberty to hold 
the Reformed faith. They were at this time in great 
straits. Philip had taken the city of Antwerp and 
conquered much of the country, and he had pro- 
cured that the great leader of the Dutch, William of 
Orange, should be assassinated. Queen Elizabeth, who 
had before allowed her subjects to help the Dutch, 
now openly took their part^ she saw that she and 
they had a common enemy in Philip of Spain, and 
that if she allowed them to be destroyed the turn of 
England would come next. So she sent 7000 
men under the command of the Earl of Leicester, 
who was son of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 
and so Philip Sidney's uncle. Sidney was already 
in the country, for in 1585 he had been sent 
as Governor to Flushing. In July of the next year 
he joined Maurice of Nassau in attacking the 



THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 393 

Spaniards, and some weeks later the united forces 
of English and Dutch besieged the town of Zutphen 
in the province of Guelderland. The Spanish com- 
mander sent a convoy of provisions for the town, and 
a force of English cavalry was sent to intercept it. 
Philip Sidney with various young noblemen and 
gentlemen went with it as volunteers. It was a 
fogg}^ morning, and for a time nothing could be seen, 
only the wheels of the waggons in which the pro- 
visions were carried could be heard. Then the sun 
came out, and the Englishmen saw that the convoy 
was well guarded. There were 3000 Spaniards in all, 
among them some of the best of the Spanish cavalry 
and spearmen. The Englishmen, overmatched as 
they were, did not hesitate for a moment. They 
charged the enemy, the young Earl of Essex leading 
them, broke through the lines of the Spaniards, and 
then, turning round, charged them again. Philip 
Sidney's horse was shot under him in this second 
charge. He mounted another and rode on. Mean- 
while the convoy which they were trying to capture 
went on getting nearer and nearer to the town, for the 
English, with their scanty numbers, could not stop 
it. Then Sidney and his companions charged a 
third time, and this time he got as far as the town 
itself. Then he was hit by a musket-ball on the leg 
above the knee. Commonly this part would have 



394 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

been protected by armour, but Sidney had put off 
his cuisses, or thigh-pieces, because a companion, an 
older man than himself, had none to wear. The ball 
made a bad wound, breaking the bone of the thigh. 
Sidney rode back to camp, for he could no longer 
manage his horse in battle. As he went along, he 
asked for a drink of water. When it was given him, 
he saw, while raising it to his lips, a dying soldier who 
looked at the cup with eyes of longing. He handed 
the water to him with the words, " Thy necessity is 
greater than mine." 

It was not thought at first that the wound was 
mortal. Very likely, had the surgeons of that day 
been as skilful in treating wounds as are the surgeons 
of ours, he might have lived. But this was not to 
be. He lingered for rather more than a fortnight, 
dying on October 17, 1586. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE GREAT ARMADA. 



King Philip of Spain had long been waiting to 
make his great attempt on England. He had an old 
dislike for the country, which he knew did not love 



THE GREAT ARMADA. 395 

him. And he had received many provocations, the 







plundering, for instance, of his towns and fleets 
described in ch. xviii., and now the help given to his 



396 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

rebellious subjects in the Low Countries. I have 
already related how Drake pounced down upon his 
stores of ships and other things and destroyed them. 
Even then Elizabeth had hopes that the peace might 
be kept. She was still very sparing of her money, 
starving both her armies and her fleet. She did not 
want to believe that the Spaniards would come, and 
she persuaded herself, as people often can, to believe 
what she wished to be true. Even her ministers were 
deceived, and her ambassadors told that there was 
nothing to fear. 

As a matter of fact there was very much to fear, 
and it is impossible to say what might have happened 
if Philip, on his part, had not been as disposed to 
delay as she was to disbelieve. He was waiting, he 
thought, till everything was quite ready, so that 
success would be quite certain ; but he really was 
waiting, though he did not know it, till the moment 
of success had gone by for good. The Armada — so 
the great fleet that Philip had been slowly gathering 
together was called — was ready to sail at the beginning 
of May ; it did not sail till the end of that month, 
and it was two months more before it came in sight 
of the English coast. There were 130 vessels, many 
of them very large, carrying more than 20,000 soldiers 
and a number of priests. Philip's plan was that the 
Armada should sail up the Channel till it reached 



THE GREAT ARMADA. 397 

the coast of Flanders, where the Duke of Parma had 
collected an army of 60,000. This army, joined by 
the soldiers carried by the Armada itself, was to be 
taken across the Channel. If this could be done, 
there was nothing in England that could even pretend 
to meet it. Happily for us the plan broke down. 

The English preparations were begun very late, 
but once begun they were made with plenty of zeal. 
The English navy did not number more than some 
thirty vessels, but the great cities furnished many more. 
The city of London was to have fitted out fifteen, and 
it sent thirty-three. There was the same zeal shown 
in other places. Seamen flocked in from all the 
coast, till at last there were nearly 200 vessels. They 
were smaller than the great Spanish ships, but they 
were well armed, well manned, and well commanded. 
It was no unequal match after all, though the Queen 
had put off making her preparations dangerously 
long. She had actually ordered the fleet to be 
dismantled at the very moment when the Armada 
was about to sail. Lord Howard, the chief admiral, 
happily refused to obey. 

Drake was playing bowls with some of his lellow- 
captains on the Hoe at Plymouth when a small 
merchant vessel came into the harbour with news 
that the Spanish fleet had been sighted off the Lizard. 
The great seaman would not show any disturbance. 



39^ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

*' There is time," he cried, "to finish the game, and 
to beat the Spaniards too!" Yet he knew that 
things were in bad plight. The English fleet was in 
harbour, and if the Spaniards found them still there, 
might easily be destroyed by fire-ships.^ All night 
the officers and seamen were hard at work getting the 
ships out of harbour. This done they sailed westward 
along the coast, and in the afternoop of the next day 
sighted the Armada. It was coming up the Channel 
in the shape of a crescent, its huge ships bright with 
gilding and paint. It was not wholly made up of 
ships intended to fight. "Truly, I think, not half of 
them men-of-war," Drake wrote to the ministers in 
London. This being so the Spanish admiral did not 
mean to have a great sea-battle. He would sail on 
straight to where the army of Flanders lay, and then 
fight if necessary in carrying it across the Channel. 
On the other hand, the English were very anxious 
to have the battle, and the greater the better. If the 
Spaniards contrived to do what they wanted, and 
join their allies and countrymen in Flanders, things 
would be looking very badly for England. So they 
kept as close as they could to the rear of the Spanish 

1 A fire-ship is a vessel, generally old and of little value, 
which is filled with fuel, taken as near as possible to the fleet 
of the enemy, and then left by its crew in such a way that it is 
likely to get among them and set them on fire. 



I 



THE GREAT ARMADA. 399 

fleet, and tried to provoke the enemy into fighting. At 
last one of the great ships turned upon its pursuers. 
Drake, who was in front of the EngHsh, attacked it ; 
others of the Spaniards came to its help. They 
suffered not a little from the English cannon, but 
none of them were sunk or taken. At night the 
Armada went on its way eastwards. Drake was for 
attacking ; Lord Howard was for waiting till he could 
join the other English squadrons. Drake did his 
best to get his way by going against the chief 
commander's will, but did not succeed. Two of the 
great Spanish ships, however, fell into the hands of 
the English. This was on Monday, the first fighting 
having been on Sunday, July 31. On the Wed- 
nesday there was fighting again, the two fleets being 
now near Portland. The Spaniards were no match 
for their nimble enemies, and though they did not 
lose more than three ships, they began to feel very 
much out of heart. What was nearly being a great 
battle took place on the Thursday near the Isle of 
Wight, and if the weather had remained calm the 
English, who had much the best of the situation — in 
those days, before steam was used, it was everything 
to have the wind in one's favour — might have won a 
signal victory ; but a strong breeze sprang up, and the 
Spaniards got out of their difficulties. On the Friday 
there was no fighting ; on Saturday the Armada had 
reached Calais, and was within a few miles of its 



400 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

journey's end. The Spanish army were at Dunkirk, 
some thirty miles away, and the Dutch ships, which 
had been blockading the harbour of that town, had 
been obliged to go away to g^t fresh stores. 

Something had to be done, and done at once, and 
it was determined to try fire-ships. Eight vessels 
were picked out — there were no old and worthless ones 
to use, so good ships had to be sacrificed, and Drake 
offered his own — and sent down against the enemy. 
As fire-ships they failed, that is, they did not set any 
of the Spaniards on fire. Still they did what was 
wanted. The enemy, terribly frightened lest the fire- 
ships should come among them, cut their cables in 
haste and tried to escape. In a short time they 
were scattered, and then the English attacked. In 
vain did the admiral try to bring them back and form 
them into line. Drake and his fellow-captains, 
Hawkins and Frobisher, and others less famous, fell 
on them as they were, divided and unable to help 
each other. After a while Lord Howard, who had 
been engaged with one of the biggest Spaniards, 
came up, and the fight went on more fiercely than 
ever. Such fighting had never been seen before at 
sea. The English ships moved far more quickly 
than their foes, and they were far superior, as has 
been said, in their cannon, but the Spaniards, over- 
matched as they were, fought bravely on. At the 
end of the battle — it lasted for some nine hours, going 



THE GREAT ARMADA. 401 

on until the morning of Tuesday, August 9 — the 
Spaniards had lost twenty-four out of the forty ships 
which had been attacked. It seemed likely that the 
rest would be driven ashore, for the wind was blowing 
strongly from the north-west. Then at the last 
moment it suddenly changed to the south-west, and 
what remained of the Spanish ships were saved, at 
least for the time. They bore up to the north, and 
though Lord Howard and Drake and the other 
captains followed them for a while they never came 
within shot again. They had other reasons, too, 
for giving up the chase. The Queen had been sadly 
mean about furnishing the fleet with provisions, and 
some of the sailors actually died of want. And then 
the weather had broken up, and it was necessary, 
especially with ships which had been more or less 
damaged with fighting, to get into shelter. 

But for the Spaniards there was no shelter, while, 
as they had no pilots, they knew nothing of the seas 
over which they were sailing. Some of the ships 
were driven on to the coast of Norway, and there 
perished. The commander of the Armada himself 
was wrecked on one of the Orkney Islands. Of those 
that managed to get through the stormy and dangerous 
seas of the North of Scotland many perished on the 
Irish coast. The people had no mercy on the 
strangers, though they were of the same faith, the 
Reformed doctrines having made no progress in 



402 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Ireland, but either killed them on the shore, or sent 
them as prisoners to England. They did not know 
or care what they were, but having first plundered 
them, either killed or made prisoners of them, just 
as they thought would be most profitable. Of the 
134 ships that had left Spain only fifty-three returned; 
of the 30,000 soldiers and sailors, only a third part. 

And what, we may ask, was Queen Elizabeth doing 
all this time t As soon as the Spanish fleet had been 
sighted, signals had been sent by fire throughout 
England, that all the soldiers should be mustered. 
The chief camp in the south of England was at 
Tilbury Fort, on the Essex shore of the Thames 
nearly opposite Gravesend. The Earl of Leicester 
was in command, and the Queen went down herself 
to review the army. We can hardly call it an army, 
for the men for the most part were not soldiers. 
Since the beginning of Elizabeth's reign there had 
been little fighting on land, and few of the men who 
assembled at Tilbury could have seen any service. 
They were full of zeal, however, and courage. Elizabeth 
rode through their ranks on a white horse, wearing a 
steel breast-plate, and holding in her hand the 
truncheon of a field-marshal. She made a speech to 
the army, of which the last words were these, " I 
know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman, but 
I have the heart and stomach of a King of England." 

Lord Leicester died on September 14. 



A FAVOURITE. 403 



CHAPTER XXI. 

A FAVOURITE. 

We have heard how at Zutphen, where Sir Phih'p 
Sidney was, the charge was led by the young Earl of 
Essex. He was a gallant young fellow, hot-headed 
and foolish indeed, and extravagant, but yet with 
much that was good in him. Unhappily he was 
spoilt by bad friends ; the Queen herself, with her 
changeable ways, now petting him, now showing 
herself displeased with him, did not do him any good. 
What was worst of all, he could not control his own 
temper. 

At Zutphen he was only nineteen, only twenty 
therefore when, in the year after, the Queen put him 
in command of the cavalry at Tilbury Fort. She 
liked to have him in attendance on her, for he was 
handsome and clever, and with fine manners, though 
he was sometimes violent in speech and action, as 
when, for instance, he fought a duel with a rival 
courtier, a certain Sir Charles Blunt. Sir Charles 
wounded him in the knee. The Queen, hearing of it, 



404 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

seemed rather pleased than offended. Essex, she 
said, needed some one to take him down, otherwise 
there would be no ruling him. 

In the year after the Armada, when there was an 
expedition to help a certain Don Antonio, who hoped 
to take Portugal from King Philip, Essex ran away from 
Court to join the fleet. The Queen, who was much 
vexed, sent one Robert Carey after him with a letter, 
in which she said that "his sudden and undutiful 
departure from her presence and his place of attend- 
ance " was very offensive to her. Carey w^as not in time 
to catch him. He had already embarked. The expe- 
dition did nothing of any importance, for the Portu- 
guese had no particular liking for Don Antonio, but 
Essex distinguished himself by his courage, being the 
first to leap ashore when there was a landing on the 
Spanish coast. This, however, was a fault which 
Elizabeth did not find it difficult to forgive. It was 
not so when she found that he had secretly married 
the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. She could not bear 
that any of her favourites should think of any one 
but herself. He was still in disgrace when some 
English soldiers were sent to help one of the French 
parties against the other. Again he secretly left the 
Court to have his share of the fighting. Of this 
indeed, he seemed never to have enough. He was 
foremost in every attack ; his young brother Walter 



A FAVOURITE. 405 

was killed at his side. He challenged a French 




THE EARL OF ESSEX. 



Admiral to a duel ; and he took up a position so 
much in advance of his general's line that he was in 



4o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

great danger. The Queen did not like that he should 
risk his life in this way, and yet was proud of the 
courage which he showed. Still, as she refused to 
send the help which she had promised while he 
remained where he was, he thought it best to come 
home. Elizabeth gave him a hearty welcome, and 
seemed to forgive him for all his offences against her. 
In 1596 he commanded the army in an expedition 
against Spain, and took the town of Cadiz in a very 
gallant way. The Queen, however, was angry with 
him for allowing the soldiers to have the plunder of 
the place ; she thought that it ought to have been 
kept for her, or, at least, for her to divide as she 
thought best. Again Essex lost her favour, but he 
seems to have got it again the next year, when she 
made him Earl Marshal. In 1598 Lord Burleigh 
died ; the Queen missed him much, and so did 
Essex. The two had been often at variance. Bur- 
leigh was for peace with Spain, if it were possible, 
and Essex for war. Once, it is said, when they had 
grown hot disputing this question, Burleigh drew a 
Prayer-book out of his pocket and showed the young 
man this text — " Bloodthirsty and deceitful men 
shall not live out half their days." But Burleigh 
had a great regard for him, and often served him 
with the Queen. Most of the courtiers looked at him 
with jealousy and even hatred. 



A FAVOURITE. 407 

In 1598 there came the worst quarrel of all, if 
indeed the story is true. There was a dispute as to 
the proper person to be put in some office in Ireland. 
The Queen set herself against the man whom Essex 
recommended, and at last he became so angry that 
he turned his back upon her. This piece of rudeness 
so provoked her that she gave him a box on the ear. 
He put his hand to his sword, and when the Lord 
Admiral stepped between him and the Queen, he 
declared that he would not have put up with such an 
insult from Henry VIII. himself, and left the Court 
in a furious rage. Again, however, he was received 
with favour, or what seemed like it. In 1599 he was 
sent to Ireland as Lord Deputy. Of course it was 
an honour, but a very dangerous one. The country 
was most difficult to manage, and certainly wanted 
more prudence and good temper in its ruler than 
Essex had ever shown. 

In Ireland everything went wrong. Essex was as 
brave as a man could be, but he was not a general. 
He could not defeat the Irish rebels ; perhaps no one 
could have done so. Accordingly he tried to make 
peace, and sent over to England the terms which he 
thought ought to be given. The Queen and her 
counsellors were furious, thinking them far too good 
for the Irish. No one now can say who was in the 
right. Ireland, after all, did belong to the Irish, and 



4o8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

they asked only for what had been their own. But 
then there w^ere many English settlers in the country, 
and there would have been an end of them if the 
Irish had prevailed. 

Essex's enemies, of course, were busy. They even 
said that Essex was thinking of becoming King of 
Ireland by help of the rebel Irish and of Spain. The 
Queen sent him an angry letter, and he, on receiving 
it, left Ireland at once, in order, as he said, to see the 
Queen, and defend himself before her from the 
slander of his enemies. When he got to London he 
found that she was not there, but at her palace at 
Cheam, called Nonsuch. He hurried down there, 
and almost forced his way into the Queen's chamber. 
She had not long risen from her bed, and was being 
dressed by her women. He fell on his knees before 
her, and covered her hand with kisses. She seems to 
have been kind to him, though no one knew what 
she said. Anyhow, when he left the room, he 
seemed to be content with the way in which she had 
received him, and was in good spirits. But after- 
wards she turned, or was turned by others, against 
him, and when a gentleman whom he had knighted 
came to pay her his respects, she showed a great 
deal of anger. " I am no Queen," she cried. " That 
man sets himself above me. Who gave him command 
to come hither so soon, when I sent him on other 



A FAVOURITE. 409 

business ? " Later in the day he saw her again, but 
then she showed him no kind of favour, told him 
that he must not leave his house, and that he would 
have to answer for his conduct before the Council. 

All this happened in the winter of 1599. About six 
months afterwards he was tried in an irregular sort of 
way. He confessed that he had made great mistakes 
in the conduct of the war, but solemnly affirmed that 
he had never had any treason against the Queen in 
his thoughts. In the end she pardoned him, but 
gave him to understand that he was not yet restored 
to favour. 

If he had been content to be patient all might 
have ended well. But patient he never was and never 
could be. He saw that his enemies were powerful 
with the Queen, and that they persuaded her to do 
what they pleased. He was honestly convinced that 
many things which they did were not for the good of 
the country, and that if he were in their place, he 
could give better advice. Then he was greatly in 
debt, and was very angry to find that he was not to 
have any longer a very profitable monopoly, as 
it was called. A monopoly was the privilege of selling 
something which other people were not allowed to 
sell. Of course any one who had the privilege could 
raise the price, not exactly as high as he chose, but 
so high as to make large profits. Essex's monopoly 



4IO S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

was of a kind of wine. He grew more and more 
angry and discontented, and began to talk in a very 
violent way, saying, for instance, "that the Queen 
grew old and cankered, and that her mind was 
become as crooked as her carcase." 

At last he broke out into open violence. He had 
been called to attend the Council, and had answered 
that he was not well enough to come. The Lord 
Chief Justice and some other great persons came to 
warn him not to break the law. He brought them 
into his house, and locked them up. This done, he 
went out into the street, followed by a number of 
friends, in the hope that the citizens would rise in his 
favour. The streets were empty, for the Lord Mayor 
had ordered that every one was to remain at home. 
One of the sheriffs, whom he knew to be his friend, 
he could not find. Sadly disappointed, he went back 
to his house, and found that his prisoners were gone. 

Meanwhile the heralds had been sent into the city 
to proclaim Essex a traitor, to offer a reward of 
^1000 for his head, and pardon to such of his fellows 
as should at once make their peace with the Queen. 
Soon afterwards Essex's house was surrounded by 
soldiers ; on the promise of a fair trial he surrendered, 
and was taken to the Tower. 

The trial took place before a number of peers, some 
of whom were certainly Essex's enemies. He was 



A FAVOURITE. 41 1 

not allowed to object to them, because they were not 
sworn, but gave their verdict on their honour. I need 
not describe the trial. He was of course found 
guilty, and indeed he had done much more than had 
been enough to bring about the condemnation of 
others. No one doubted that he would be sentenced 
to death ; the question was whether the Queen would 
suffer him to die. For some time she could not make 
up her mind. Essex's enemies did their best to keep 
up her anger against him. They repeated, perhaps 
they made up, foolish things that he had said against 
her. But she could not forget that she had once 
loved him. There is a story, which has been denied, 
but which is probably true, that in former days she 
had given him a ring which he was to send to her 
when he was in great need. She expected to receive 
it, and he did send it. It went by mistake to the 
wrong person, and this person wilfully kept it back. 
The Queen was provoked that it never reached her, 
and the fierce temper which belonged to her family 
was -roused to a worse rage than ever. Essex was 
found guilty on the 19th of February, the Queen 
signed his death warrant on the 23rd, and he was 
executed two days later. 

It was a cruel act, because it was not in any way 
necessary. The Queen could not have believed that 
she was in any danger from him. It was not long 



412 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

before she began to reproach herself. After all she 
had loved the man, and when he was gone she began 
to find it out. She had many sad thoughts when she 
died, but none more sad than the memory of the 
foolish, brave Essex. She died on March 24, 1603, 
in her seventieth year. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 



If I had followed strictly the order of dates I 
should have written about Walter Raleigh before I 
wrote about the Earl of Essex or even about Philip 
Sidney ; for he was two years older than Sidney, and 
fifteen years older than Essex. But it is more 
convenient to put his story here. Raleigh had to 
wait much longer than the other two before he began 
to rise in the world. He fought and fought bravely 
in France, in the Low Countries, and in Ireland, but 
he was still nothing more than a private gentleman 
at thirty, though E^ssex, as we have seen, commanded 
the English cavalry when he was but twenty. Then 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 



414 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

came Raleigh's chance. There is no reason to sup- 
pose that the story is not true, though we do not find 
it in print till more than thirty years after his death. 
It is very like what we might expect from him and 
from the Queen. 

Elizabeth — it is thus the story goes — had to pass 
over some muddy spot, and stopped a moment in 
doubt. Raleigh, who was wearing that day a new 
plush cloak, at once stripped it off his shoulders and 
threw it down in front of the Queen. She passed on, 
not forgetting to notice the young man who had 
been so ready with his politeness. Not long after- 
wards he wrote on a window where he knew the 
Queen would see it this line — 

" Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." 

Elizabeth added underneath — 

" If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." 

Raleigh took the hint, and climbed. He got up 
quickly enough. Of wealth he had plenty. The 
Queen gave him money and lands, not indeed of her ' 
own — of them she was very sparing — but belonging 
to other people. For instance, she made a college or 
a bishop grant him the lease of an estate at a very 
low rent ; he could let it again, and take the differ- 
ence. When Antony Babington was found guilty of 
plotting against the Queen, part of his property was 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 415 

handed over to Raleigh. Then he had monopolies 
of wine and cloth. Finally, though he did not get 
much profit out of them, he had lands in Ireland. 

If he got money quickly, he spent it freely. We 
read of a gentleman being tried for stealing a hat- 
band of pearls belonging to "Walter Rawley" — his 
name was spelt in twenty different ways — worth 
£^0. This indeed is nothing compared to other 
stories told about him. One writer of the time says 
that he wore £6000 worth of jewels in his shoes. 
There is a tradition that he had a court dress that 
cost ;^6o,ooo. But he did not spend all his money 
in this foolish way. He would gladly have done as 
Drake did, and gone voyaging himself in those 
"Western Seas," where the Englishmen of that day 
were so fond of seeking for riches and fame. But the 
Queen would not let him go. So he fitted out ships, 
and sent others to seek adventure and profit in his 
stead. Two started in April, 1584, and five months 
afterwards came back with some fine pearls and furs 
and other things, together with two natives. The 
land they discovered was called " Virginia," ^ after 
the Virgin Queen. It was Elizabeth herself who 
invented the name. Other expeditions were sent out 
and were not so successful. In fact they all failed, 

^ It was not the region now called Virginia in the United 
States, but part of North Carolina. 



4i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V, 

and it seemed as if all the lives and the money that 
were spent in them had been thrown away. But it 
was not so ; he set an example, and at last, and that 
in Raleigh's lifetime (1606), the colony was really 
founded. 

When there was fighting to be done Raleigh was, 
as we may suppose, ready enough to take his share, 
and he fought as gallantly as any man in the battles 
with the Armada. In 1592 he got into trouble. 
The cause was the same as that which again and 
again made Elizabeth angry with her favourites. He 
presumed to love some one else. She sent him to 
the Tower. He was not kept there very long. In 
September the privateers which he and others had 
fitted out to take Spanish shipping brought home a 
splendid prize, the " Great Crown of Portugal Carack," 
as it was called, named the Madre di Dios. She had 
a most valuable cargo of spices, ebony, tapestries, silks, 
and all manner of precious things. The pepper alone 
was reckoned to be worth ;^ 1 02,000. Raleigh was 
let out of prison, that he might help in dividing the 
spoil, about which there was, as usual, a great deal of 
quarrelling. 

In 1595 he actually did what he had often been 
thinking of — sailed for the Western Seas. Just six 
weeks — not a long time in those days — took him 
across the Atlantic. He reached Trinidad, burnt 



S/J^ WALTER RALEIGH. a^i-j 

down a newly-built Spanish city, and then with a 
couple of boats made his way up the Orinoco. He 
had various adventures and saw many curious things, 
which are good to read about, but of which I cannot 
write in this place. One of his experiences was to 
make a friendship with an old chief one hundred and 
ten years of age. He did not gather much treasure, 
but he made sure that the land which he had found 
was full of gold and silver, and he fully intended to 
visit it again. One thing that pleased him, and that 
we are glad to read, was that he was on quite friendly 
terms with the natives. In August he was back in 
England. He did not bring back a great store of 
treasure ; without that, discovery was not much 
thought of in those days. People too laughed at his 
traveller's tales, but we know now that there was a 
great deal of truth in them, and that when he says a 
thing as of his own knowledge he is to be believed. 
He did not stop long at home. In the June of the 
following year (1596) he was with Lord Essex in the 
taking of Cadiz. He was wounded badly in the leg 
during the sea-fight, in which indeed he thrust his 
ship into the very foremost place. This wound pre- 
vented him from being at the plunder of the town. 
He complained that his part of the spoil was " a lame 
leg and deformed " ; . . . that while others were 
enriched he had " nought but poverty and pain." 



E E 



41 8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

He had, as a fact, nearly £2QQQ, which would be 
equal to about seven times as much in our time. 
But then the heroes of that day were almost as 
greedy as they were brave. 

I shall pass quickly over the rest of the time 
between this and the Queen's death. Raleigh was 
now again in favour with her ; as he rose, Essex fell ; 
who was right, who was wrong in the lamentable 
quarrel between them we need not ask. When 
Essex died, Raleigh was there. Some one says that 
he came unasked ; but then he was Captain of the 
Guard, and it was probably his duty to be present. 

With the Queen's life Raleigh's good fortune came 
to an end. King James did not like him, why it is 
not easy to say, except that the favourites of one 
sovereign seldom please his successor. All monopolies 
were recalled — a good thing, except that they would 
soon be given again to other people. This greatly 
reduced Raleigh's income. Then his place of Captain 
of the Guard was taken from him. He still used to 
come to Court, but it was made quite clear that he 
was not welcome. In July he was arrested, kept at 
first in his own home, and then sent to the Tower. 
The charge against him was, of course, high treason, 
in that he had plotted to put Arabella Stuart on the 
throne. This lady was the granddaughter of Mar- 
garet Tudor, sister of Henry VIH., and so of royal 



S/M WALl'RR RALEIGH. 419 

descent. Elizabeth, who did not h'ke James, had 
sometimes talked of naming her as her successor. 
Nothing Hke real proof of this accusation was brought 
forward. It is likely that there had been some such 
plot, and Raleigh may have talked foolishly, but that 
was all. 

At the last moment his life was spared. This was 
in December, 1603. For more than twelve years, that 
is, up to March, 1616, he was kept in prison. There 
was one person at least who wondered that such a 
thing could be done. This was Prince Henry, the 
King's eldest son. " Who but my father,' he said, 
''would keep such a bird in a cage.?" The Prince 
even made his father promise to release him. But 
he died, and for a time Raleigh's hopes were at an 
end. 

At last he got his libert}^ He was to go again to 
the country which he had visited twenty years before, 
and get possession for the King and his courtiers of 
some of the riches which he had seen there. But he 
was not pardoned. That was to depend upon whether 
he succeeded or not. He did not succeed. Every- 
thing seemed to go against him. He met with storms 
on his way. When he reached Guiana he himself fell 
sick of a fever, and was very near to death. Then he 
started for the great gold mine, where he hoped to 
find the wealth for which he was seeking. But the 



420 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Spaniards were prepared for his coming. They 
thought that he had no business in the New World, 
believing that it all belonged to them. A battle 
followed, and Raleigh's son Walter was killed. As 
for the mine, they never reached it. If they had, they 
certainly would not have found what they expected. 
You do not find gold lying in a mine, as it lies in the 
drawer of a bank, and something of this was what they 
hoped to see. All that they did get was the plunder 
of a Spanish town, worth some ;^iooo. Really it was 
worth far less than nothing to Raleigh, for King 
James desired above all things to be good friends 
with Spain, and here he had sent a prisoner out 
of the Tower to burn one of the King of Spain's 
towns ! 

There is no need to say much more. A few days 
after he got back to England he was thrown into the 
Tower. He had had no pardon for the crime of which 
he had been found guilty before, and new charges 
were brought against him. There was a sort of trial. 
But long before the King had made up his mind 
to kill him. And kill him he did. On the morning 
of Friday, October 29, 161 8, Walter Raleigh was 
beheaded. 



A LITTLE ROMANCE. 421 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

ALITTLEROMANCE. 

King James had not, indeed, an excuse, but a reason 
for putting Raleigh to death, in this, that he greatly 
desired to be on friendly terms with Spain. It 
makes one quite ashamed to see how an English 
King disgraced himself. As soon as the English 
ambassador at Madrid heard that Raleigh had been 
beheaded, he hurried to tell the King, who, he wrote 
back, " showed much contentment with the hearing." 
One of the English ministers wrote to the ambassador, 
telling him to make as much as he could out of the 
matter. He was to let King Philip ^ understand that 
James had caused Sir Walter Raleigh to be put to 
death chiefly to give him satisfaction ; he was to dwell 
on what a very clever man Raleigh was, and how 
much he might have done for his King and country, 
and so prove to the Spanish King that he ought to 
be very grateful. What could be more shameful 
than that a King of England should make a merit 
1 Philip III., son of Philip II., who died in 1598. 



422 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with a foreign ruler of having put to death one of his 
most useful subjects simply to please him ? The 
King of Spain wrote him a letter of thanks with his 
own hand, and that was all the payment he got. 
But he hoped to get much more, especially one thing 
on which he had set his heart. What this was I 
shall now show. 

King James' eldest son, Prince Henry, died in 1612. 
Some five years afterwards it was thought well to look 
about for a wife for Prince Charles (born 1600), who 
was now heir to the throne. James would have liked 
a Spanish better than a French princess, but the 
Spanish King, Philip III., never liked the idea, and no 
• wonder, for the last Spanish princess that had come to 
England, Katharine of Aragon, had been very unhappy. 
But Philip III. died in 162 1, and his son, Philip IV., 
seemed more favourably disposed. Indeed, an agree- 
ment was come to that Charles should marry the Infanta 
Maria, sister of the King. She was to be at liberty 
to worship God in the way to which she was accus- 
tomed. James also promised that the Roman 
Catholics in England should not be persecuted any 
more. If they gave assurance of their being loyal 
subjects, they were to be let alone. But then 
difficulties began to arise. There was a dispute about 
the dowry which the Infanta was to have when she 
was married, and another about the time of the 



A LITTLL ROMANCE. 



423 



marriage. The Spaniards too, backed up by the 
Pope, wanted to secure better terms for the Roman 











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THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 



Cathoh'cs in England ; King James, who had already 
given great offence to his subjects by what he had 



424 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

done, was unwilling to do any more. Another thing 
about which they differed was, what was to be done 
with a certain Frederick, a German Prince, who had 
married the King's daughter Elizabeth. He was the 
sovereign of certain provinces on the Rhine, and had 
been elected King of Bohemia, but had lost that 
kingdom and his own possessions. James hoped to 
get the Spaniards to restore them to him. 

And now some one suggested the idea that Prince 
Charles should go himself to Madrid. He might 
see the Infanta, and perhaps settle the matters in 
dispute with her brother. It has been said that the 
idea first came from the Spanish ambassador. But 
the man that had most to do with it was a certain 
George Villiers, younger son of a country knight, who 
had become a great favourite with both the king and 
the Prince, and had by this time been made Marquis 
of Buckingham. It was not very easy to get the 
King's consent. He was afraid, he said, that he 
should lose *' Baby Charles " — this was his pet name 
for his son. At last he gave way, and the two young 
men — Buckingham was just eight years older than 
the Prince — started on their journey, calling them- 
selves Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown. They went by 
way of Paris, and saw the Royal family, among them 
the Queen, who was the sister of the Queen of Spain, 
and Henrietta Maria, whom he was afterwards to 



A LITTLE ROMANCE. 425 

marry. In France the proposed marriage was not 
liked — nor, indeed, was it in England — and the 
travellers were warned that they had better hurry on, 
lest they should be arrested. They got safely across 
the frontier, and reached Madrid without any mishap. 
They went to the Ambassador, who was not a little 
surprised to see them. Charles was introduced to 
the King, and the two were very friendly. But for 
the present, he was told it was not possible that he 
should be allowed to speak to or even come near the 
Infanta. But he could see her when she was taken 
out for a drive. 

Then there came an entry in state. Charles rode 
at the King's right -hand, with a canopy held over 
his head. At the palace he made what we may say 
was a " call " on the Royal family. The King and 
the Queen were there, the two brothers of the King, 
and the Infanta. But they had to talk through an 
interpreter, for the Spanish royalties never spoke any 
language but their own, at least in public. When 
Charles did manage to get a few words in French 
with the Queen, she told him that he would not be 
allowed to marry the Infanta, and that he had better 
give up the idea, and think of her sister Henrietta, 
whom he had seen in Paris. 

Charles, however, was not going to own himself 
beaten. He determined to see the Infanta a little 



426 STORIES FROM ENGLISH RISIVRY. 

closer, and finding out that she used to go in the 
early morning to a certain orchard, scrambled over 
•the wall and presented himself before her. Both she 
and her attendants were terribly frightened, and the 
Prince found that he had come to no purpose. 

In the end nothing came of the treaties and the 
courtship. It was a bit of romance and nothing 
more. The Pope, whose leave was wanted before the 
marriage could take place, asked more than King 
James was willing to grant, in the way of giving 
religious liberty to the Roman Catholics. King 
James, on the other hand, demanded that Spain 
should help the husband of his daughter Elizabeth, 
the Elector Frederick, who was a Protestant, to get 
back his dominions. King Philip refused to do this, 
and thought it an insult that he should have been 
asked. In the end the affair was broken off. Prince 
Charles and his Spanish hosts parted on what seemed 
to be very good terms. He gave them some hand- 
some presents, among them a diamond ornament for 
the Infanta, and received as much or more from them. 
Several of the Spanish grandees accompanied him to 
the ship when he embarked, and soon afterwards he 
landed at Portsmouth, to the joy of his countrymen. 
But really there was much angry feeling on both sides. 
The Duke of Buckingham, especially, was greatly 
offended, and is said to have told the Spanish Minister 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 427 

that he would be even with him. The nation was 
greatly relieved to find that there was to be no Spanish 
match, and urged the King to declare war with Spain. 
Buckingham became a popular favourite ; and there 
were bonfires and rejoicings when the King unwill- 
ingly consented. The House of Commons voted the 
sum of ^^"300,000 for carrying it on. The very next 
year war with Spain was declared, and the year after 
James died. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

KING OR PARLIAMENT } 



It would take very long, and would bring us into 
a number of very difficult subjects, to explain the 
causes of what is commonly called "The Great Rebel- 
lion," the war between the Parliament and the King. 
King James, and King Charles after him, tried to 
rule more absolutely than the English people were 
willing to endure. Elizabeth, it is true, was always 
fond of having her own way, bpt she knew when she 



428 STORJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

had to yield. This was exactly what King Charles 
did not know. This was one cause of his troubles ; 
another was the bad advisers whom he had about 
him. 

The worst of these was his wife, Queen Henrietta 
Maria. I have already described how he courted a 
Spanish princess, and how the match was broken off. 
On his way to Spain he had passed through Paris. 
When the Princess Henrietta, youngest daughter of 
King Henry IV., heard the story of his adventures, 
she said, " The Prince of Wales need not have gone 
so far as Madrid to look for a wife." The Queen of 
Spain herself another daughter of King Henry's 
had told him that he had better think of her sister 
Henrietta. This time the Prince did not go courting 
in person. He sent his portrait, and King James his 
father sent ambassadors. The Princess was very 
much pleased with the likeness, and the ambassadors 
made an agreement by which too much was yielded. 
So the Princess became Charles's wife, and, as I have 
said, proved to be a very bad adviser. 

His other counsellors were not much wiser. These 
were more honest men than those whom King James 
had about him, but they were more unpopular. 
Foremost among these was Archbishop Laud, a 
learned and pious man indeed, but who offended 
many people both by his conduct and his opinions. 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 429 

The worst piece of advice given to the King — and 




CHARLES I. AND ARMOUR BEARER. 



it was all the more harmful because it fell in with his 
own ways of thinking — was that he should try to 



430 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

govern without a Parliament, Three Parliaments 
were called together during the years 1625 — 1629, 
and quickly dissolved, because they would not do 
what the King wished. Then for eleven years, 1629 
— 1640, there was no Parliament, the King raising 
money by ways that were against law, or, if not 
actually against law, had been out of use for so 
long that they seemed to be so. In 1640 the 
Parliament called the Long Parliament met. Some 
things that it did were right and necessary, some were 
doubtful, some clearly beyond its powers. Very 
likely it would have been more moderate than it was 
if the King could have been trusted to keep his word. 
Unfortunately he could not. Anyhow, things went 
on from bad to worse. It was on August 22, 1642, 
that the war began. On that day the King set up his 
standard at Nottingham. 

At first the Royalists, as the King's party are com- 
monly called, were stronger than their adversaries. 
The larger part of England was with them. We may 
say that every town and every village was divided ; 
even in families there were some that took one side 
while others took the other; but generally the west 
of England took the King's part and the east took 
the Parliament's. A recent writer says, " Roughly 
speaking, a line drawn from Hull to Weymouth would 
divide England into a large Royalist half, and a 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 431 

smaller Parliamentarian half, as things were just after 
the war had begun. The extreme north was for the 
King, but Lancashire favoured the Parliament." Lon- 
don was for the Parliament, and had a great deal to 
do with its final success. It must be remembered that 
there was no regular army, and that only few English- 
men had had any experience of soldiering. Some had 
taken service with foreign princes or countries. Most 
of these were on the Royalist side, and generally 
King Charles's men were better suited for soldiers than 
their adversaries. In one thing they were certainly 
superior, they knew better how to ride, for most of 
the latter came from the towns. On the other hand, 
the then London militia, or " train -bands " as they 
were called, had some discipline and practice in arms. 
The most experienced general on either side was 
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of the Earl of 
Essex who was put to death by Elizabeth. He had 
seen a good deal of service on the Continent. He 
fought for the Parliament, yet after all he did not dis- 
tinguish himself very much. On the Royalist side 
the best was the King himself, and the worst, that is 
the one who did most harm. Prince Rupert, the King's 
nephew (he was the son of his sister Elizabeth). He 
was brave — no one could have been braver — but he 
was hot-headed, and had no power of seeing the 
whole of a battle. While he was pushing his own 



432 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

success he would let everything go wrong elsewhere. 
The man who really won the victory in the end for 
the Parliament was Oliver Cromwell. And now for 
a short description of the war. 

From Nottingham the King moved westward to 
Shrewsbury, where his party was very strong. Having 
enlisted many soldiers he marched towards London. 
Lord Essex was waiting for him at Worcester, but 
the King avoided him, and he had to follow on 
as quickly as he could. At Edgehill, one of a range 
of hills that divide Warwickshire from Oxfordshire, 
the two armies met. What happened then was to 
happen again and again during the war. The King's 
cavalry was nearly as strong in numbers as his 
infantry, and far stronger in fighting power. Prince 
Rupert with his horsemen charged Lord Essex's 
cavalry and easily broke them. Carried away by 
excitement, he pursued the flying enemy for miles, 
and then came back to find that the King's infantry 
had been defeated, losing the Royal Standard and all 
the artillery. Some of Essex's cavalry under Oliver 
Cromwell, who now distinguished himself for the first 
time, had kept their order, and had made them- 
selves useful in pursuing Charles's beaten infantry. 
On the whole, however, the Royalists had the best 
of the day, for the King was able to march towards 
London. Essex did the same, and though he was 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 433 

obliged to take a longer course, got there before him. 
At Turnham Green, some six miles to the west of 
London, the City train-bands were guarding some 
earthworks. The King did not venture to attack them, 
and drew back to Reading, and afterwards to Oxford. 

The conflict at Edgehill was the only pitched 
battle of the year, but there was a good deal of fight- 
ing elsewhere. The Parliament showed itself strong 
in the east, the Royalists prevailed in the north and 
west. 

In June, 1643, the Parliament lost one of its best 
and ablest leaders. John Hampden was mortally 
wounded in a skirmish with some Royalist horse that 
had come out of Oxford, where the King had fixed 
his head-quarters. He died six days afterwards. In 
July the Royalists won two victories in Wiltshire, and 
on the 26th of that month they got possession of 
Bristol, after London the largest town in the king- 
dom. A little later the King laid siege to Gloucester. 
At this time (August, 1543) he was probably stronger 
than he ever was again. 

The Parliament felt that they must not lose Glou^ 
cester, which was a very important place, on account 
of the bridge over the Severn, and Lord Essex was 
ordered to march to its relief When he approached 
the King raised the siege, but posted himself so as 
to intercept the Earl on his way back to London. A 

F F 



434 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

battle was fought at Newbury in Berkshire. In this 
the London train-bands distinguished themselves, 
standing firm against the fiercest charges of Rupert's 
cavalry. The King was not exactly defeated, but 
finding that his army was short of gunpowder, he left 
his position in the night, and made his way to Oxford. 
For the rest of the year there was no fighting of 
importance. 

Both parties now began to look for help elsewhere. 
The Parliament applied to the Scotch. There were 
many skilful and experienced soldiers, men who had 
served in the wars on the continent, among the 
Scotch, and their help therefore was very valuable. 
The King, on the other hand, sent over to Ireland for 
the troops that had been fighting with the rebels 
there. It was even arranged that some of the rebels 
themselves should come. As it turned out, the Irish 
did more harm than good. Their coming made the 
English people very angry, and they were soon 
defeated. But when the Scotch joined the army of 
the Parliament things went very differently. The 
Royalists in the north could make no head against 
them, and the Earl of Newcastle, who was in command 
of them, sent to the King for help. Charles sent his 
nephew. Prince Rupert, with a large force of cavalry, 
and the two armies met on July 2nd, at Marston 
Moor, near York. There were about 27,000 men on 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 435 

the side of the Parliament, while the King's army 
numbered about 3000 less. As was always the 
custom in those days, both sides had their infantry in 
the middle of the line, their cavalry on the two wings. 
And now there happened what had never happened 
before. Prince Rupert's cavalry charged, but charged 
in vain ; for a few minutes indeed their adversaries 
wavered, but it was only for a few minutes. They 
had some Scottish infantry to support them, and in a 
very short time they recovered their ground, and 
drove Rupert and his men before them. Here again 
Cromwell distinoruished himself; it was he who was 
in command of the Parliament horse. PVom this 
time there could be no doubt as to what the end of 
the war would be. The King's strength was in his 
cavalry, and when they were beaten his cause was 
really lost. In another part of the field things went 
differently. Lord Goring charged Sir Thomas Fair- 
fax, and broke his line. As usual, the Royalists 
pursued the enemy too far, without thinking of helping 
their friends. When they came back to the field, 
they found that the battle was lost. The King's 
army was indeed quite broken up. Prince Rupert 
managed to get a few thousand men together, but all 
the north of England was now in the power of the 
Parliament. 

Still the war was not over. The King marched out 



436 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of Oxford, following Lord Essex, who had gone in 
hopes of bringing over the south-western counties to 
the cause of the Parliament. Essex was driven into 
Cornwall, and in the end lost the greater part of his 
army. Another battle, in which neither side gained 
much advantage, was fought at Newbury. This was 
on October 17. During the rest of the year 1644 
nothing of importance happened. 

On June 14 in the next year came the last battle 
of the war. It was fought at Naseby in Northampton- 
shire. Again Prince Rupert, who seems to have 
always lost his head as soon as he drew his sword 
charged the opposite line, broke it, and pursued the 
fugitives. He even began to plunder the baggage. 
When he came back the battle was lost. Cromwell 
with his " Ironsides," as the horsemen whom he had 
himself trained were called, defeated the Royalist 
cavalry, and then fell upon the infantry. When 
these began to waver, the King, who was close by, 
made ready to charge at the head of his own body- 
guard. Those who were with him would not allow 
it. Lord Carnwath, a Scotch nobleman, who was 
riding by his side, laid his hand upon his rein, saying, 
" Sire, would you go to your death } " And Charles 
unwillingly turned back. Perhaps it would have 
been better for him and for England if he had gone 
on, even though it was to his death. 



KING OR PARLIAMENT? 437 

Nothing was now left to the King but a few towns 
in various parts of England, where his garrisons still 
held out. He himself was at Oxford. But it soon 
became manifest that Oxford was not a safe place for 
him to live in. The Generals of the ParHament 
prepared to besiege it, and the King saw that if he 
did not wish to be made a prisoner he must go. 

On April 27 he rode out of the city with two 
companions, one of them a clergyman, who, like 
many clergymen in those days, had turned himself 
into a soldier, the other a gentleman whose servant 
the King pretended to be. He wore indeed a servant's 
dress, and had his hair cut short in the fashion 
followed by those who followed the side of the 
Parliament. The party began by riding towards 
London, and got as far as Harrow-on-the-Hill. The 
King, it is said, had thoughts of entering the city and 
throwing himself on the mercy of his adversaries. 
But having got so far he changed his mind, and rode 
northward till he came to Newark, where the Scot- 
tish army was encamped. There he gave himself up. 
He knew that there were matters in dispute between 
the Scotch and the Parliament, and he hoped to turn 
these to his own advantage. But he was disappointed. 
The Scotch began by demanding terms which the 
King could not possibly yield. They wanted him to 
change the order of the Church ; there were to be no 



438 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

more bishops. The King was quite firm. On this the 
Scotch determined to surrender him to the Parliament. 
They bargained that if they did this they were to 
have their arrears of pay, ^^400,000, paid them. Many 
people said that they had sold their King. And 
indeed what they did was something like it. He was 
actually given up on January 30, 1647 ; two years 
afterwards he was dead. The Queen, whose youngest 
child, named Henrietta after her, was born in Exeter 
in June, 1644, fled from that city a fortnight after the 
birth of her baby, made her way to Falmouth, and 
thence crossed over to France. Her' vessel was 
nearly taken by an English cruiser. The Queen 
commanded the captain to blow up his ship sooner 
than let it fall into the hands of the enemy. But 
just at the last moment — a shell had already struck 
the vessel — a French squadron came in sight, and the 
cruiser gave up the pursuit. Even then she was 
not safe. A gale sprang up, scattered the squadron, 
and drove the Queen's vessel on to the rocks. 
The passengers, however, escaped to land without 
injury. 

The baby had been left behind. There is an 
interesting story of how, two years afterwards, she 
was brought to her mother in France by the lady 
into whose charge she had been given. The Parlia- 
ment resolved to take her away from this lady — she 



IN WESTMINSTER HALL. 439 

was the wife of Lord Dalkeith, — and the faithful 
woman, sooner than suffer this, made up her mind to 
escape with the child. She dressed herself up in a 
shabby cloak and gown, made herself look deformed 
by fastening a hump of rags on one shoulder, and put 
a ragged suit of boy's clothes on the little Princess. 
She walked all the way from Oatlands, which is 
about twenty-five miles from London, to Dover, 
carrying the child on her back. The chief danger of 
being discovered came from the little Princess her- 
self. She did not like the shabby dress which she 
wore, nor the name of Pierre by w^hich she was 
called, and she told every one whom they met on the 
road that she was not Pierre, but a princess, and 
these dirty rags were not her own clothes. Fortun- 
ately no one understood her baby talk, and the party 
reached France safely. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

IN WESTMINSTER EI ALL. 

There were two parties among those who were on 
the side of the Parliament. Some hoped that the 
King might be compelled to rule better ; others were 



440 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

resolved to get rid of kings altogether, and now 
came the time for the latter to prevail. We shall see 
this from what happened on December 5, 1648; There 
had been now for nearly two years, ever since the 
Scotch gave Charles up to the Parliament, many letters 
passing backwards and forwards, and many confer- 
ences, between the Parliament and the King. At last, 
on the day mentioned above, the House of Commons, 
after a debate which lasted all the night, resolved 
that " the King's concessions to the Parliament are a 
sufficient ground for settling the peace of the king- 
dom." But this did not suit the views of Cromwell 
and the other leaders of the army. They sent down 
soldiers the next day to take possession of the way 
into the House. These soldiers were under the com- 
mand of a certain Colonel Pride. He had a list of 
members who were known to favour the King, and 
as any of these came up to the House, he was seized 
by the soldiers and led away. This business was 
called " Pride's Purge." The House of Commons 
was " purged," as Cromwell and his friends said, of 
those who were not really in earnest. 

About three weeks afterwards the House, or what 
was left of it, resolved that as " Charles Stuart had 
acted contrary to his trust in setting up his standard, 
he should be tried." On January i it voted that 
Charles Stuart had been guilty of high treason, 



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TRIAL OF CHAKLES I. IN WESTMINSTER HALL, 



IN WESTMINSTER HALF.. 443 

and on the 19th of the same month the judges that 
were to try him were called together. More than a 
hundred judges had been named, but many of them 
did not come. When the name of Lord Fairfax was 
called, a voice from the gallery called out, " He has 
more wit than to be here ; " and when afterwards the 
clerk said, " By the authority of Parliament, and of 
all the good people of England," it cried again, " No, 
nor the hundredth part of them." 

The next day the King was brought before the 
judges, who sat in hat and cloak. A chair of crim- 
son velvet was put for him ; he sat down without 
removing his hat. The accusation that he had brought 
great troubles upon the kingdom was then read. 
When one of the lawyers was about to speak, the 
King laid his staff gently on his shoulder, as if to bid 
him be silent. He did it again, and the gold head of 
the staff dropped off. The King was seen to grow 
pale. 

" You are expected," said the President, " to make 
an answer to this charge." 

King. " By what authorit}- am I brought here } " 

President. " By authority of the people of Eng- 
land, whose elected King you are." 

K. " The Monarchy of England has been for 
nigh two thousand years by inheritance, not by 
election." 



444 STORJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

P, " 'Tis well known that you have misused this 
trust. The court must proceed.'* 

K. " I have been brought here by force. This is 
no Parliament, for I see no House of Lords ; nor can 
there be a Parliament without a King." 

This was repeated many times, the President 
requiring that the King should plead, the King 
refusing. As he walked out of the court some 
shouted " God save the King ! " others " Justice ! 
Justice ! " 

The same thing happened on the second and two 
following days. On the fifth the trial went on. 
Witnesses were called to testify that the King had 
set up his standard, and that various acts of war had 
been committed by him. The sixth day was oc- 
cupied in the same way. On the seventh the King, 
on coming in, demanded to be heard. The President, 
answering that he should be allowed to speak before 
sentence was pronounced, went on to say that the 
Court was agreed that the charges brought against 
Charles Stuart had been proved. This done, he said 
to the King, "If you question our right to try you, 
we will not hear you ; but if you desire to defend 
yourself, then you may speak." 

The King said that he had something to say to 
the Lords and Commons, and desired that he might 
be allowed to speak to them. His judges, of course, 



IN WESTMINSTER HALL. 445 

he refused, as before, to acknowledge. The President 
would not allow what he asked, and proceeded to give 
sentence. "The Court adjudge that Charles Stuart, 
as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and a public enemy, 
shall be put to death by the severing of the head 
from the body." 

K. " Will you hear me a word ? " 

P. " Sir, you are not to be heard after sentence." 

K. " No, sir } " 

P. " No, sir ; by your favour, sir. Guard, with- 
draw your prisoner." 

K. " By your favour, sir, hold the sentence." 

Then, finding it all useless, he cried, " I am not 
suffered to speak. Expect what justice others will 
have." 

Some of the soldiers as he passed them treated 
him rudely, blowing the smoke from their pipes in his 
face. This was not, however, the temper of all. One 
soldier cried " God bless the King ! " his officer struck 
him with a cane. The King said, " Methinks that 
the punishment is greater than the offence." 



446 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 

The King was condemned on January 27. On 
the 29th he took leave of the two of his children that 
were in England — the Princess Elizabeth, who was 
then thirteen years old, and the Duke of Gloucester, 
who was but eight. There had been some talk of 
making the boy King, so that the chiefs of the Par- 
liament might rule in his name (his two elder brothers 
were not in England). Charles took the child on his 
knee, and said to him, " Sweetheart, now will they 
cut off thy father's head." The boy looked at him 
very earnestly. He went on, '' Heed, my child, what 
I say ; they will cut off my head, and perhaps make 
thee a king. But mark what I say : you must not 
be a king so long as your brothers Charles and 
James live ; therefore I charge you, do not be made 
a king by them." *' I will be torn in pieces first," 
said the boy. He made the boy promise that 
he would never consent to be king while his elder 



THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 447 

brothers were alive. Then giving them some jewels, 
the only riches, he said, he could bestow on them, he 
sent them away. Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, was 
with him till late. When the Bishop had gone, he 
spent two hours more in meditation and prayers. 
The gentleman who was with him related that 
that though he himself could not sleep, the King 
slept quietly for four hours. About five in the 
morning — " two hours before dawn " — the King 
opened his curtain and called to him. " I will get up," 
he said, " for I have a great work to do this day " ; 
and shortly after, "This is my second marriage day; 
I would be as trim to-day as may be, for before night 
I hope to be espoused to my Lord." He then chose 
the clothes that he would wear, taking care to have 
an extra shirt, for he said, " The season is so sharp 
as may probably make me quake. I would not have 
men think it fear ; I fear not death. I bless God I 
am prepared." 

After this he gave directions for certain books 
which he wished to be distributed, a Bible among 
them, with notes written by him in the margin, which 
he wished the Prince of Wales to have. 

Bishop Juxon now came to read and pray with him. 
The Bishop read the 27th chapter of St. Matthew's 
Gospel, which contains the story of the Crucifixion 
of Our Lord. The King wanted to know whether 



448 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

he had chosen it. " May it please your Majesty," 
he answered, " it is the proper Lesson for the 
day." 

The officer who had been sent to fetch him to 
the place of execution now knocked at the door. 
" 'Tis time,", he said, " to go to Whitehall, where 
your Majesty may have some further time to rest." 
For a short time the King was left by himself; then, 
taking the Bishop by the hand, he said, " Let us 

go." 

The way to Whitehall — it was at St. James's Palace 
that he had been since his coming to London — was 
lined on either side by soldiers. The drums were 
beaten without ceasing, so that it was scarcely possible 
to hear what was said. 

The scaffold had been made outside one of the win- 
dows in Whitehall Palace, near the Banqueting Hall, 
looking westward on to what is now Parliament Street. 
The people were so far off that the King, perceiving 
that his voice could not reach them, said what he had 
to say to the gentlemen about him. He justified 
what he had done; at tlie same time he forgave his 
enemies. One of his gentlemen touched the edge of 
the axe. "Hurt not the axe," said the King, ''that 
may hurt me." The Bishop then begged him to 
say something about religion. " I die a Christian," 
said the King, " according to the profession of 




G G 



THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 451 

the Church of England, as I found it left by my 
father." 

He begged the officer to take care that he was not 
put to pain, and twice warned the gentlemen near that 
they should not hurt the axe. To the executioner he 
said, " I shall say but short prayers, and then stretch 
forth my hands." 

** There is but one stage more," said the Bishop. 
" This stage is turbulent and troublesome, but you 
may consider it will convey you a very great way — it 
will carry you from earth to heaven," 

The King answered, " I go from a corruptible 
crown to one incorruptible, where no disturbance 
can be." 

The scaffold was hung with black, and in the 
middle stood a block, with an axe leaning against it. 
Two men with masks on their faces stood by. The 
King put his hair into the cap which he had on 
his head, the Bishop and the executioner helping 
him. Then he knelt down and laid his head upon 
the block. The executioner severed it with one 
blow. The other masked man took it up, and cried 
in a loud voice, " This is the head of a traitor ! " 
A great groan was the answer. 

Whether the king deserved to die or not, it is 
certain that i^; was a great error to kill him, an error 



452 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

which put back the cause of freedom in England 
by many years. 

" He nothing common did or mean 
Upon that memorable scene, 
But with his keener eye 
The axe's edge did try ; 

Nor called the gods with vulgar spite 
To vindicate his helpless right, 

But bowed his comely head 

Down, as upon a bed." 



BOOK III. 

FROM THE LORD PROTECTOR TO QUEEN VICTORIA. 



CHAPTER T. 

THE LORD PROTECTOR. 

When the war between the King and the Parlia- 
ment was brought to an end, there was no man whose 
name stood so high in the estimation of the nation as 
Oliver Cromwell. And, indeed, he had done more 
than any one else to win the victory for the Parlia- 
ment. Again and again he and his Ironsides — for this 
was the name which men gave to the cavalry which 
he commanded — had turned the fortune of the day. 
He and they were terribly in earnest. " Our enemies," 
he had once said, " have the spirit of gentlemen ; 
we must match it with the spirit of religion." The 
war finished, there was a great question as to what 
was to be done with the King, and Cromwell had 
much to do with deciding it. He strongly urged that 
Charles should be brought to trial, and, if found 
guilty, should be put to death. When this had been 



456 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

done, men began to ask how the country was to be 
governed. For the time Parliament had the power, 
by Parliament being meant the House of Commons 
only, for the House of Lords had been abolished. 
But the army was not satisfied. It had won the 
victory, and it was not willing to be ruled by men 
who had done nothing, it was said, but talk. As 
it had been the Parliament against the King, so it 
was now, or would soon be, the army against the 
Parliament. We shall soon see how the struggle 
ended. 

The first thing to be done was to make Ireland 
submit to the new order of things. Cromwell was 
appointed Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief, 
and took with him an army of 12,000 men. The war 
that followed was carried on with dreadful cruelty. . 
Some years before the Irish had rebelled and mas- 
sacred thousands of English settlers, men, women, 
and children. Cromwell and his army were deter- 
mined to have vengeance for these things, and at 
the same time to make it impossible for the Irish 
to rebel again. At Drogheda, and again at Wex- 
ford, thousands of people, peaceable inhabitants as 
well as soldiers, were put to death. To this day the 
most hateful of all names to an Irishman is that of 
Cromwell. 

He had not altogether finished the work of con- 



THE LORD PROTECTOR. 457 

quering Ireland, before he was called away to Scot- 
land. The Scotch people had been displeased with 
the course of affairs, and had sent for the eldest son 
of Charles I., himself a Charles, who was then living 
in Holland. If he would consent to make certain 
promises, to follow the Presbyterian form of religion, 
and to govern by the advice of Parliament, they would 
make him king. Charles consented, though these 
conditions were not much to his mind, and crossed 
over from Holland to Scotland. Cromwell and his 
friends felt that this must not be allowed to go on. 
It was useless to have put an end to kings in Eng- 
land, if they were to be set up again in Scotland. 
Cromwell crossed the border, this time with sixteen 
thousand men. He threatened Edinburgh, but was 
compelled by the manoeuvring of Leslie, the Scotch 
commander, to retire to Dunbar. There was some 
fighting before dawn on September 3 (1650). The 
English ca\alry were driven back, and a regiment of 
infantry, which had advanced to support them, was 
broken. The time was come for Cromwell to act. An 
officer who was present with the English army writes : 
" The sun rising upon the sea, I heard Noll say, * Let 
God arise and let His enemies be scattered.' " He gave 
the word to his own regiment of infantry to advance. 
They levelled their pikes and moved forward, the 
Scottish cavalry retreating before them. At that 



458 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



moment the mist which covered the country Hfted, 
and the Scots saw their cavalry falHng back. A 
panic seized the whole army — they were raw soldiers, 
few of whom had ever seen a battle — the men threw 
down their arms and fled. Three thousand were 
killed, ten thousand taken, with all the baggage and 
artillery. 




!%^ 



A GUNNER, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



But another battle had to be fought. Charles, who 
had been crowned king on January i, 165 1, re- 
solved to make his way into England, and try his 
fortune there, hoping that a number of Royalists 
would join him. About twelve thousand Scottish 
soldiers went with him, and he reached Worcester 
without much difficulty. But his hopes of getting 



THE LORD PROTECTOR, 450 

support from his English friends were sadly dis- 
appointed. Not more than three or four thousand 
men joined his army. His force, all told, was little 
more than half that of the enemy. The Scots 
fought bravely in the battle that followed, and 
Charles himself showed no little skill as a general. 
But Cromwell, with his army of veterans, both better 
disciplined and superior in numbers, could not be 
resisted. The Royalists were utterly defeated, with 
the loss of three thousand killed, and twice as many 
taken prisoners. How Charles himself escaped I shall 
tell in my next chapter. The battle of Worcester 
was fought exactly one year after the battle of 
Dunbar. 

The man who had conquered Ireland and Scotland, 
and had destroyed the last hopes of the Royalists 
in England, was, of course, more powerful than 
ever. It was not long before the Parliament found 
that he was their master. Sir Henry Vane had intro- 
duced a bill which Cromwell disliked. On April 20, 
1653, he went down to the House of Commons, fol- 
lowed by a company of musketeers. He listened to 
the debate. When it seemed to be coming to an end, 
he whispered to Thomas Harrison, an old comrade, who 
sat by him, " This is the time I must do it," and rose 
to address the House. He began by praising it for 
the good that it had done, but soon changed his tune. 



46o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The members had thought of their own interest only ; 
they had refused to do justice ; they had oppressed 
the people; above all, they had neglected the army. 
The Speaker said that this was not the language that 
ought to be used to Parliament ; it was all the worse 
because it was spoken by that Parliament's own 
servant, who had been made what he was by their 
kindness. Cromwell put (^ his hat — he had taken it 
off to speak — and cried, " Sir, I will put an end to 
your prating." A few minutes after, he stamped his 
foot on the floor, and called to the officer who com- 
manded the musketeers, " Bring them in ; bring them 
in." At once the door was opened, and Colonel 
Wolseley with some twenty soldiers entered. After 
reproaching various members with their misdeeds, 
Cromwell bade the soldiers clear the House. Harrison 
took the Speaker by the hand and led him down from 
the chair. Some of the members left the House of 
their own accord, others were forced to go. When 
the chamber was empty, Cromwell pointed to the 
mace lying on the table : " Take away this bauble," 
he said to one of the soldiers. He was now practi- 
cally the ruler of England. 

But he was not to have his way without opposition. 
It was necessary to have a Parliament, and a Parlia- 
ment, whatever pains he might take to have no 
members but of his own way of thinking, was sure 



THE LORD PROTECTOR. 461 

to set itself against him. An Assembly, known in 
history by the name of the Little Parliament, was 
called together. But it soon showed itself unwilling 
to submit, and Cromwell had to call in his musketeers 
again. On December 16, 1653, he had the title of 
Lord Protector bestowed upon him, practically by the 
army. 

As time went on he became more and more arbi- 
trary ; and, we cannot doubt, more and more unhappy. 
He knew that he held a place which the will of the 
English people had not given him. But it was a 
place that he would not, indeed could not resign ; to 
resign it, he was persuaded, would be to cause more 
evils than to keep it. " 'Tis against the voice of the 
nation," said one of his friends to him. " There will 
be nine in ten against you." " But what," he answered, 
" if I put a sword in the tenth man's hand } Will not 
that do the business ? " 

I pass quickly over this time. Cromwell professed 
to despise the title of king. " The name," he said, 
" is but a feather in the hat." As for the crown, it was 
only '' a shining bauble for crowds to gape at or kneel 
to." Yet it seems that he secretly desired it. But • 
to take it would have offended friends whom he could 
not afford to lose, and in the end he declared that he 
could not accept the government with this title. 

But he was again declared Lord Protector, and this 



462 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

time with more state and ceremony than before. In 
December 1653 he had been dressed in a suit of dark 
velvet, with long military boots, and a gold band 
round his hat ; and the ceremony took place in the 
Court of Chancery. Now, Westminster Hall itself 
was used for the purpose. On June 26, 1657, a 
splendid chair of state was set at the upper end. 
Cromwell stood before it, while the Speaker of the 
House of Commons put a mantle of purple velvet, 
lined with crimson, about his shoulders, presented him 
with a belt, richly gilt and embossed, girded him with 
a sword, and put a sceptre of solid gold into his right 
hand. 

The troubles and difficulties through which he had 
to pass at home did not prevent him from making 
England greatly respected abroad. It was no time of 
peace. At one time or another England was at war 
with Holland, with France, with Spain, with Portugal, 
and always, thanks to the energy of Cromwell, and 
the courage and skill of his admirals and generals, she 
held her own. 

The most famous of his dealings with foreign 
Powers was his interference on behalf of the Vaudois, 
the Protestant inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont. 
The Duke of Savoy, who was the ruler of the coun- 
try, had treated these poor people with much cruelty. 
Cromwell, of course, could not help them directly, 



THE LORD PROTECTOR. 463 

for they were far out of reach. But he refused 
to conclude a treaty that was being negotiated with 
the King of France, unless the latter should first 
compel the Duke of Savoy to treat his Protestant 
subjects with more justice; and this was actually 
done. 

At home, things went on from bad to worse. The 
Lord Protector could not raise money without Parlia- 
ments, and the Parliaments that he summoned always 
turned against him. Then he was in constant fear 
of assassination. It is said that he wore armour 
under his clothes, and that he carried loaded pistols 
about with him. When he went out, a large escort of 
soldiers surrounded his carriage. It was never settled 
beforehand by what road he \vould travel, and he 
was careful not to return by the same way by which 
he had come. 

And he suffered a great loss in his private life. 
The best loved of his children was his daughter 
Elizabeth, the wife of a Northamptonshire gentleman, 
named John Claypole. She died on August 6, 1658, 
having first, it is said, entreated her father to lay 
down the power of which he had unlawfully possessed 
himself Cromwell felt her death profoundly, and 
survived her but a few weeks. Removed from Hamp- 
ton Court, where he had been suffering from ague, to 
London, he became rapidly worse. For some days 



464 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

before his death he was barely conscious, but it is 
said that when asked directly whether he did not wish 
that his son Richard should be his successor, he 
answered "yes." He died on September 3, his lucky 
day, that on which he had won the battles of Dunbar 
and Worcester. A few days before all England had 
been shaken by such a storm of wind as had never 
been within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. 



CHAPTER H. 

THE * ROYAL OAK. 



The young King Charles escaped from Worcester 
city by the north road just as Cromwell's soldiers were 
making their way into it on the other side. He would 
hardly have got away had not some brave followers 
made a desperate charge on the enemy, and so turned 
away their attention. 

By the advice of the Earl of Derby, another fugitive 
from the battle,^ Charles resolved to seek refuge at 

^ Lord Derby was afterwards taken and executed. He had 
submitted to the Parhament, and was therefore declared to be 
guilty of treason. 



THE ROYAL OAK, 465 

Boscobel, a house in Shropshire, belonging to a loyal 
lady, Mrs. Cotton by name. Riding all night he 
arrived at dawn at another of Mrs. Cotton's houses^ 
called Whiteladies. His companions were Gifford, a 
cavalier, and Yates, a labouring man who acted as 
guide. At Whiteladies Charles put on the disguise 



V 















A CAVALRY ENCOUNTER. 

which it was settled he should wear. He was to pass 
as a woodman. His clothes were shabby and coarse ; 
he carried a bill-hook in his hand : his hair was 
cropped close to his head, and the skin of his face and 
hands dyed brown. A little party of Royalists had 
gathered at Whiteladies ; they took leave of tlie king, 

H H 



466 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

as soon as he had completed his disguise, and rode 
away in another direction, Charles, with his guide 
Yates, going on to Boscobel. He had not been gone 
more than an hour when some troopers belonging to 
the enemy's army arrived, and after searching the 
house in vain, started in pursuit of the fugitives. 

Yates had married a woman of the name of 
Penderell, and it was her brothers who now took 
charge of the King. The Penderells were natives of 
Tong, a village not far from Shifnal in Shropshire. 
There were six brothers, three of whom had fought 
for the King. One of these three was killed ; the 
other two, John and George by name, were employed 
as woodmen at Boscobel. A fourth, William, was in 
charge of the house; a fifth, Humphrey, worked at 
the mill in the parish ; the sixth, Richard, farmed a 
few fields. They were Roman Catholics, and had 
helped more than once to save priests of that faith 
when in danger of being arrested. It was not thought 
prudent that Charles should go to the house ; Richard 
Penderell, accordingly, took him into the thickest part 
of the wood, and made him lie down on a blanket 
under one of the trees. Here Yates's wife brought 
him some food. The sight of the woman startled 
him. " Good woman," he said, " will you be faithful 
to a distressed cavalier } " She declared that she 
would sooner die than betray him. His next visitor 



THE ROYAL OAK. 467 

was the mother of the Penderells. The old woman 
kissed his hand, and falling on her knees thanked God 
that He had chosen her sons to deliver their King 
from his enemies. 

It had been at first arranged that Charles should 
make his way to London. A large city, where many 
are coming and going every day, and where few know 
anything about their neighbours, is always an excellent 
place in which to hide. But now another plan was 
proposed. Charles was to seek shelter among his 
friends in Wales, make his way to the coast, and so 
escape to France. He and Yates left Boscobel Wood 
at nine in the evening, and reached the house of a 
friend named Wolf, at'Madeley, at midnight. Madeley 
is not far from the Severn ; they hoped to cross that 
river, and then make the best of their way into Wales. 
Wolf was afraid to take them into his house, where he 
had no safe hiding-place ; there were two companies 
of militia in the village ; to get across the Severn was 
impossible, for all the fords and bridges were guarded. 
Nothing was left but to return to Boscobel. It was 
still thought dangerous to enter the house, and the 
next day was spent by Charles and Colonel Careless, 
a cavalier whom he found at Boscobel, among the 
branches of the famous oak. The tree had been 
lopped a few years before, and had thrown out a 
very thick foliage. Charles and his companion saw 



468 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

soldiers pass near it more than once in the day. 
Meanwhile, William Penderell and his wife Joan, 
while seeming to be at work — he a woodman, she busy 
in gathering sticks — kept watch. At night the fugitives 
came down from the tree and took shelter in the 
house. There was a secret chamber in it, and Charles 
thought that he should be as safe there as anywhere. 
His next move was to Moseley in Warwickshire (not 
far from Birmingham). It was a journey of more than 
twenty miles, and Charles, who was tired out with all 
that he had gone through during the last few days, 
was provided by Humphrey Penderell, the miller, with 
a horse. The five brothers and Yates accompanied 
the King, two walking before, t'wo behind, and one on 
either side. Charles complained that the horse moved 
very heavily. " Sire," replied Humphrey, " you do 
not recollect that he carries the weight of three king- 
doms on his back." 

At Moseley a new plan was devised. A certain 
Miss Lane, daughter of Colonel Lane, of Bartley, near 
Walsall, had obtained a pass permitting her to visit 
a relative near Bristol. Charles was to disguise him- 
self as her servant. If he reached Bristol there would 
be a good chance of finding a ship to carry him to 
France. While he was at Moseley the search was 
very hot, and a very careful watch had to be kept. 
Whiteladies and Boscobel had been again searched, 



THE ROYAL OAK. 469 

and now a troop of horse arrived at Moseley, and 
arrested the King's host on the charge of having 
fought at Worcester. He was able, however, to prove 
by the testimony of his neighbours that he had never 
left Moseley, and was released. That night Charles 
rode to Bartley, where he was to take up his character 
as servant. His dress up to this time had been a 
leathern doublet, with coat and breeches of coarse 
green cloth, so worn in places that it seemed to be 
white, stockings much darned at the knee and with- 
out feet, heavy shoes, and a grey steeple-crowned hat, 
without band or lining. He now put on a neat suit 
of grey, such as a groom might naturally wear, A 
three days' journey took the party to their destination, 
Abbotshill, a few miles west of Bristol. Here Charles 
was recognized by the butler. The man was loyal, 
however, and took the precaution of keeping out of. 
the way two of his fellow-servants who were known to 
have republican principles. But no way of escape 
appeared, for no ship could be hired at Bristol, and 
another move was necessary. 

The next plan was to go to Trent, near Sherborne, 
where a Royalist of the name of Windham resided. 
A forged letter was delivered to Miss Lane, calling 
her back to Bartley, where her father was said to be 
at the point of death. She hurriedly departed, and 
the King made his way to Trent. A ship was hired 



470 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

at Lyme Regis to cany a nobleman and his servant 
to France — the nobleman was Lord Wilmot, while 
Charles was the servant. Charles, however, was to 
act the part of a young man eloping in a servant's 
disguise with a young lady, whose part was played 
by a Miss Juliana Coningsby. These two were to be 
received at an inn at Charmouth, a seaside village 
near Lyme. Again the scheme failed. The boat which 
was to fetch the passengers from Charmouth never 
appeared, the Lyme ship-master having repented of 
his agreement. Charles returned to Trent, and his 
friends tried to hire a ship at Southampton. This 
they succeeded in doing, but the vessel was seized 
to carry troops across to Jersey. A day or two after- 
wards the King had to leave Trent, where there were 
suspicions about his real character. His next refuge 
was in a house near Salisbury. Here he lay in hiding 
for five days. In the meanwhile a loyal gentleman. 
Colonel Gunter by name, succeeded in hiring a vessel 
from a loyal trader at New Shoreham. Charles made 
his way with all speed to Brighton, where he sat down 
to supper with Colonel Gunter, the trader, whose 
name was Mansel, and the captain of the vessel, 
whose name was Tattershall. The captain was 
observed to watch the King very closely during the 
meal. When it was over, he took the trader aside, and 
complained that he had been deceived. The stranger 



THE ROYAL OAK. 471 

in grey was the King. "I knew him," he said, "when 
he commanded the fleet three years ago." The 
master of the house also was aware of the quality of 
his guest. As Charles stood with one hand resting on 
the back of the chair, the innkeeper kissed the hand, 
saying — " Doubtless if I live I shall be a lord, and 
my wife a lady ! " 

At four o'clock in the morning the next day, the 
party went down to the shore. Here Tattershall fell 
on his knees before the King, and vowed that what- 
ever might happen, he would land him safely on the 
coast of France. They embarked. When the ship had 
weighed anchor, her head was put for Deal, to which 
place she was bound. A little scene had been arranged 
between Charles and the master. The King addressed 
the crew, saying that he and his friend Wilmot were 
merchants in distress, and flying from their creditors ; 
would they join him in persuading the master to alter 
his course and land them on the coast of France ? 
He would give them twenty shillings for their trouble. 
The men did as they were asked, and Tattershall, 
after making some objections, took the helm, and 
steered for the French coast. At day-break they 
came in sight of land, the shore being Fecamp, which 
was two miles distant. The tide was low, and not 
being able to make the harbour, they cast anchor. 
But a suspicious sail hove in sight. The master 



472 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

believed that it was a privateer from Ostend. This 
was not the case — it was really a French hoy — but it 
seemed safe to land the fugitives at once. The boat 
was lowered, and Charles and Lord Wilmot were 
rowed to shore. He had been traversing long dis- 
tances for a long time, — not less than three hundred 
and fifty miles in forty-four days^ — he had been in the 
power of poor men, to whom the offered reward of a 
thousand pounds would have been wealth beyond all 
their hopes ; he had been recognized by several people 
who had spared no pains to help him, but no one seems 
even to have thought of betraying him. I shall have 
to tell a very similar story, hereafter, of another Prince 
of the same royal house. 

1 From Sept. 3 to Oct. 14. 



SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 473 



CHAPTER III. 

SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 

Every one would be very much astonished now-a- 
days if a man who had never been even a midshipman, 
perhaps had never been to sea, were appointed to the 
command of a fleet. Yet this was what was done 
when in 1649 Robert Blake was appointed, together 
with two other officers in the army, to command the 
fleet, and yet no one was surprised. Blake had 
showed himself an excellent soldier,^ and that was 
thought a good reason for supposing that he would 
make an excellent sailor. 

His first service was to blockade Prince Rupert in 
Kinsale Harbour. War had ceasea everywhere in 
Great Britain and Ireland, but the Prince was still 
carrying it on by sea, somewhat in the fashion of a 
pirate. Reduced to extremities by the blockade, he 
had no choice but to attempt an escape. He took the 

1 His chief service had been surprising the town of Taunton, 
and holding it against the attack of Lord Goring till he was 
relieved. 



474 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

opportunity of a strong gale of wind, and succeeded 
in breaking out, but with the loss of three ships. He 
sailed to Lisbon, and made his way up the river Tagus, 
where he was under the protection of the King of 
Portugal. Blake followed him, but was fired on from 
the castle which commanded the river when he 
attempted to come to close quarters. The King of 
Portugal sent him a present of fresh provisions, with 
a polite message, but begged him not to come higher 
up the river, unless he should be compelled to do so 
by bad weather. Before long Blake was, or pre- 
tended that he was, so compelled, and came ; but he 
anchored his ships a good way from Prince Rupert's, 
and, for the time, contented himself with sending to 
the King a statement of reasons why Prince Rupert 
was not worthy of protection. The King still refused 
to give him permission to attack, and Blake began to 
seize Portuguese ships, both coming from Brazil — for 
that country then belonged to Portugal — and going 
thither. In September he took seven outward-bound 
ships, and in October sunk or took eleven out of a 
home-bound fleet of twenty-three, with a cargo of 
10,000 chests of sugar. Prince Rupert now contrived 
to get out of the Tagus, and made his way to Carta- 
gena. Blake followed him thither, and asked the 
governor of the city for leave to attack. The 
governor referred the matter to Madrid, but while he 



SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 475 

was waiting for an answer, the Prince escaped again, 
and got into Malaga. Here Blake entered the harbour 
without asking leave, and destroyed the whole 
squadron excepting two, with which the Prince 
escaped to the West Indies. English traders had 
nothing more to fear from him. 

But a more formidable enemy was at hand. England 
and Holland were the chief trading nations of the 
world, and there was, of course, much jealousy and 
many quarrels between them. It is not easy to say 
which was in the right. Even when the two fleets 
fought, as they did before war had been regularly 
declared, we do not know which was to blame. The 
Dutch Admiral, Van Tromp by name, was told by the 
Dutch Council to refuse to allow his ships to be 
searched — the English had lately claimed the right to 
do this — and to salute or not, as he thought best.^ Van 
Tromp came over to the Downs (a place in which 
ships lie at anchor between Dover and Deal), with 
forty men-of-war. Blake, who had fifteen only, but 
these of a larger size, came up from the westward to 
meet him, and fired a gun, thus demanding a salute. 
Van Tromp replied with a broadside. A regular 

^ The English claimed that in the Channel, as being their 
own sea, their men-of-war should be saluted by strangers. (To 
dip the flag was to salute.) Sometimes it was argued by the 
Dutch that they had been accustomed to salute the King's flag, 
and that the Commonwealth had no right to the compliment. 



476 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

battle began, and the English fleet was in danger of 
being surrounded, when another squadron, commanded 
by Bourne, came up. After four hours of fighting, 
the Dutch lost two ships. This happened on May 
19. For some months afterwards there was much 
discussion between the two governments. But they 
could not agree upon terms, perhaps because, as has 
been said before, the Dutch would not give to the 
Parliament what they had been willing to give to 
the King. Some fighting took place, mostly to the 
advantage of the English. In August, Blake took a 
whole fleet of merchantmen and six of the men-of- 
war which were protecting them. On September 
29 there was a battle in which the Dutch fleet 
would have been destroyed but for the darkness 
coming on. At this time Van Tromp was in disgrace, 
and De Ruyter was in command of the Dutch fleet. 
The result of all this was that the trade of Holland 
was almost entirely stopped. The Dutch, in their 
distress, repented of the injustice with which they had 
treated Van Tromp, who had not really been to 
blame, and restored him to his command, and made 
so great an effort .that he was able to put to sea with 
a fleet of eighty ships. Blake had only thirty-seven 
with which to meet him. Whether he did not know 
the real strength of the enemy, or felt himself bound 
to fight, whatever the odds, the English admiral 



W MIIITBWMPMW 




SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 479 

joined battle. He attacked De Ruyter, who was in 
command under Van Tromp, in his flag-ship the 
Triumph, and was backed up by some but not by all 
of his fleet, for some of the captains were not well 
disposed to the Government. In the end Blake had 
to retreat into the Thames. Three of his ships were 
taken and two blown up. Many of the others were 
greatly damaged, none worse than the Triumph. It 
was after this battle, which took place on November 
29, that Van Tromp sailed down the Channel with a 
broom at his main-top mast, to signify that he had 
swept the sea of his enemies.^ This was, of course, a 
great blow to Blake, but it did not break his spirit. 
The Government at home, knowing when it had got a 
good man, did not think of taking away his command, 
but appointed the best officer they could find to help 
him, while they exerted themselves to the utmost to 
equip a new and stronger fleet. Very early in the 
year (1652) Blake sailed out of the Thames with 
seventy ships, and took up a position near the Isle of 
Portland. On February 18 Van Tromp came up 
from the westward with about as many ships of war, 
and a convoy of three hundred merchantmen. The 
English fleet was divided into three squadrons, which 

^ I give the story, but the latest authority (Professor 
Laughton, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica) throws some doubt 
upon it. 



48o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

were not near enough to help each other. Van Tromp 
attacked Blake's flag-ship, which was still the Triumph, 
and for a time had the best of the fight. Blake was 
severely wounded and his captain killed. But the 
other squadrons came up and the two fleets were now 
on equal terms. So they remained till nightfall. 
The next day Van Tromp made sail eastward, with 
his convoy in front, and his war-ships behind. Blake 
and his colleagues followed close behind. A running 
fight went on for two days, until the Dutch reached 
the shallower water further east. The English had 
decidedly the better of the fighting. Four Dutch 
ships were taken and five sunk, and between twenty 
and thirty merchantmen were captured. Blake was 
so disabled by his wound and by sickness, that he had 
to be put on shore. Both sides were busy in getting 
together and equipping all the ships they could. The 
Dutch had one hundred and twenty ships, with Van 
Tromp still commanding, the English nearly as many. 
The two fleets met on June 3 off the North Foreland. 
The first day neither obtained much advantage ; on 
the second Blake came up with a squadron of seven- 
teen fresh ships to the help of his colleagues. In the 
end Van Tromp lost one-and-twenty ships, 1300 
prisoners, and a large number of killed and wounded. 
This was the last time that Blake was to meet his 
old enemies. He had to be put on shore again, and 



SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 481 

before he was fit for service, his colleague Monk, of 

whom we shall hear again, had defeated the Dutch in 

a great action off the mouth of the Texel. In this 

action Van Tromp was killed. 

Blake was not a man who would let politics interfere 

with the business of fighting. It was reported that 

when he heard of Cromwell having turned out the 

Parliament, and made himself Chief of the State, he 

said to his officers — " It is not for us to mind state 

affairs, but to keep foreigners from fooling us." Still, 

we can easily believe that he was not altogether 

pleased with having to fight the Dutch, who had once 

been the allies of England, and who might well be so 

again. Anyhow, he had next to do with very different 

enemies. The towns of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, 

on the northern coast of Africa, were the habitation 

of pirates who were the terror of all the nations of 

Europe. Blake sailed to Algiers, and demanded that 

the Dey — this was the title of the governor, who was 

nominally subject to the Sultan of Turkey — that he 

should set free all Christian captives, and promise not 

to interfere with any English ships in the future. The 

Dey gave a civil answer. He would give up all the 

captives that were in his hands for a certain price apiece, 

and would promise to keep the peace. The Bey of 

Tunis, which Blake visited next, was insolent. " Look 

at my castles," he said. " Do you think I am afraid of 

I I 



482 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

your fleet ? " Blake sailed into the Bay of Porto Ferino, 
bombarded the castle till it was in ruins, silenced all 
the enemy's guns, and then sent the long-boats of his 
ships into the harbour with orders to set fire to the 
fleet in it. All the Bey's ships, nine in number, were 
destroyed. This was done with the very small loss of 
twenty-five killed and forty-nine wounded. Tunis, 
after this, was glad to make peace, and Tripoli 
followed its example. 

His last exploit was against Spain. News was 
brought to him that a fleet laden with silver was in 
the harbour of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe. 
It was protected by sixteen men-of-war ; the forts of 
the harbour were fully armed ; in fact, every prepara- 
tion in the way of defence had been made. Yet 
Blake, though his force was but small, boldly attacked, 
and burnt, blew up, or sunk every Spanish ship, with- 
out losing one of his own. His strength was now 
rapidly failing ; he sailed home, but died on August 
1/5 1657, just as his fleet was entering Plymouth 
Harbour. 

He was buried in Westminster Abbey, but all that 
he had done for England did not prevent the Royalists 
from taking his body out of its grave and hanging it 
on a gibbet. 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 483 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE GREAT PLAGUE. 

Note. — I have taken (with some corrections) the contents of 
this chapter from Daniel D^ioo^s Journal of the Plaj^uc Year. 
Defoe did not write from his own recollections, for he was 
but four years old at the time, but it is commonly allowed 
that an eye-witness could not have described this terrible 
calamity more accurately. 

It was in the month of November, in the year 1665, 
that there first began to be spread abroad a report 
that the Plague had come again ^ to London. But, 
for the most part, men took Httle heed of it, for 
such things are often said without cause. Nor, 
indeed, did we know the whole truth, because, as 
long as it was possible, the matter was kept secret. 
But when the weather set in hot, things became 
so bad, one hundred and twenty dying in the 
parish of St. Giles' only, that there was no more 
concealing the trouble. And now began a great 
flight of people from the city into the country. 

^ The Plague had been many times in London before. In 
1499, 30,000 died of it, and the same number in 1625. 



484 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

In the Broad Street of Whitechapel, where I had 
my dwelHng, being a saddler by trade, was nothing 
to be seen but wagons and carts, loaded with 
children and servants and goods, coaches also with 
those of the better sort, and horsemen. And it could 
plainly be seen that all were equipped for travelling. 
This being so, I doubted what I should myself do. 
To leave my trade was to hazard the loss of all that I 
had in the world. To stay, on the other hand, was 
to put my life in peril. I changed my opinion more 
than once. But when I resolved to go, I was put 
off more than once by some accident. First, the 
servant whom I purposed to take with me, deceived 
me, for being frightened at the increase of the dis- 
temper, and not knowing when I should go, he left 
me. Secondly, the woman whom I should have put 
in charge of my house and goods fell sick. But what 
chiefly determined me was this, that taking up the 
Bible, if haply I might find guidance therein, I 
lighted upon the 91st Psalm, wherein is written : 
/ will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my for- 
tress, my God ; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall 
deliver thee from the snare of the foivler and from the 
noisome pestilence. . . . Because thou hast made the 
Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy 
habitation. Thus shall no evil befall thee, neither shall 
any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 



485 



At the first the distemper was chiefly in the out- 
parishes, because tiiey were very populous and fuller 
also of poor, but afterwards the city itself, that is to 
say, within the walls, was sorely visited. Only it 




AN OLD LONDON STREET. 



must be remembered that many of the inhabitants, 
being rich men, had the means of going away, 
whereas the poor were constrained to stay. Verily I 
might have thought, when I walked abroad, that all 



486 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the inhabitants of London had gone out of it, the 
streets which were commonly thronged being now 
grown desolate. Yet a man could not fail to learn 
that there were some yet left behind. The voice of 
mourning was heard in the streets, and the shrieks of 
women and children at the doors and windows of 
their houses, where their dearest relations were per- 
haps dying or just dead, were frequent to be heard. 
But this was rather in the first part of the visitation. 
Towards the latter end, men's hearts were hardened. 
They did not concern themselves for the loss of 
friends, expecting that they should themselves be 
summoned the next hour. 

Then also there were other things that increased 
the general fear. A blazing star or comet appeared 
for several months before the beginning of the Plague. 
Some would have it that it was of a faint, dull, and 
languid colour, but this they said, I notice, not so 
much at the time as afterwards. Books also, pre- 
tending to be religious, were published at this time, 
and frighted the people, or at the least some of them, 
sorely. One of these was entitled " Come out of her, 
my People, lest you be partaker of her Plague." 
Another was called " Fair Warning." These did, 
either openly or secretly, foretell the ruin of the 
city. Then there was a preacher who cried con- 
tinually in the streets — "Yet forty days, and LONDON 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 487 

shall be destroyed." He said no more, but repeated 
these words continually, with a voice and countenance 
full of horror. He would not stay to speak to any 
one or even to take food, but cried continually these 
words. Then some pretended, or, it maybe, believed, 
that they saw wondrous sights, as an angel with a 
sword, or the spirit of some dead man, pointing to 
a tombstone as the place to which many would 
soon come. 

Of quacks and mountebanks that professed to have 
remedies against this disorder there was, as may be 
supposed, no lack. The door-posts of the houses and 
the corners of the streets were plastered over with 
their papers. Here one might see such flourishes as 
these : " INFALLIBLE Preventive Pills against the 
Plague," " Never-failing Preservatives against the 
Infection," "The Only True Plague-Water," and 
the like. I could, if I would, fill a book with them. 
Others set up bills to summon people to their 
lodgings for direction and advice. Here you may 
read one of them : 

" An Italian Gentlewoman just arrived from Naples, 
having a choice secret to prevent infection, which she 
found out by great experience, and did wonderful cures 
with it in the late Plague there, wherein there died 
20,000 in one day." 

One of these added to his bills, which he gave about 



488 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the streets, these words, " He gives advice to the poor 
for nothing." Abundance of poor people came to 
him accordingly, to whom he said much, telling them 
many good things for them to do. But the con- 
clusion of all was that he had a preparation, which 
if they took such a quantity of, every morning, he 
would pawn his life they would never have the Plague. 
And the price of this was half-a-crown. One of 
them that came says to him : " Sir, I am a poor 
alms-woman, and am kept by the parish, and you 
say that you give your help to the poor for nothing." 
"Ay, good woman," says he, "I give my advice for 
nothing, but not my physic." "Alas, sir," answers 
the woman, " you have laid a snare for the poor,' 
and gave him many ill words, and stood at his door 
all that day telling her tale to all the people that 
came, till the doctor, finding she turned away his 
customers, was obliged to call her up-stairs again 
and give her his box of physic for nothing, which, 
perhaps, too was good for nothing when she 
had it. 

Others dealt in charms and amulets, as if the 
Plague was a thing to be kept off with signs of 
the Zodiac ; papers tied up in knots, with words 
or figures written upon them, as particularly, the 
word Abracadabra, formed in triangle or pyramid 
thus — 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 489 

ABRACADABRA 
ABRACADABR 
ABRACADAB 
ABRACADA 
A B R A C A D 
A B R A C A 
A B R A C 
A B R A 
A B R 
A B 
A 

But the true physicians themselves, when the dis- 
temper was at its worst, could do nothing. It defied 
all medicine ; the very physicians were seized with 
it, with their preservatives in their mouths, and some 
of them the most skilful of their profession. Of the 
means that were empk)yed by persons in authority, as 
the Lord Mayor and aldermen within the Gity and 
the Justices of the Peace without it, the chief was the 
shutting up of houses that were infected. A watch- 
man was set there night and day, to prevent the in- 
habitants stirring out, or any coming to them. This 
looked hard and cruel, and doubtless many perished 
that might have lived if they had been suffered to 
leave the infected houses without delay. But the 
public good justified the private mischief. 

Yet many did escape out of these houses, as parti- 
cularly, when the watchman was sent on some errand, 
for it was his business to go of any errand on which 



490 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the family sent him, as to buy food and physic, or to 
fetch physicians or nurses, or to order the dead -cart. 
It was not possible that one man could watch a house, 
it having, perhaps, more than one door. Doubtless, 
also, many were bribed to suffer the dwellers in the 
infected houses to escape from them. I can scarcely 
find it in my heart to blame such as gave the bribes 
or such as received them. I pitied much three watch- 
men that were publicly whipped through the streets 
for suffering people to go out from infected houses. 

Who shall describe the terrible sights and sounds 
that were to be seen and heard in the streets } The 
most dreadful thing that I myself encountered was 
of my own seeking, for I must needs go and see the 
great pit that they had digged for them that died of 
the Plague in the churchyard of our parish of Aid- 
gate. 'Twas about 40 foot in length, and about 16 
foot broad, and about 9 foot deep when I saw it, but 
afterwards, it was said, they dug it in one part as far 
as 20 foot, till they could get no further for the water. 
Many cried out at the size of it, saying that the 
churchwardens had a mind to bury the whole parish 
in it. But the churchwardens knew better than did 
they who blamed them. For having begun to bury on 
the 6th of September, they had thrown into it 11 14 
bodies in the space of two weeks, and so, the bodies 
having thus come to lie within six foot of the surface 



THE GREAT PLAGUE, 491 

— and none were suffered to lie nearer — they were 
constrained to fill it up. Having seen it when it was 
newly digged, I saw it again on September loth, 
when there was 400 buried, going in the night-time. 
This I did, though it was forbidden, having some 
acquaintance with the sexton. The good man would 
have dissuaded me. '' 'Tis our duty," he said, " and 
we must do it at all hazards, but you that have no 
call there is nothing to justify." But when I said 
that it might be an instructing sight and not without 
its uses, he answered — " Go in ; depend upon it, 'twill 
be a sermon to you, and the best you ever heard in 
your life." 

When I heard this I wavered, but seeing two links ^ 
come over from the Minories, and hearing the bell- 
man, and the dead-cart afterwards appearing, I 
could no longer resist it, but went in. There was no 
one in the churchyard but the buriers and the man 
that had the cart. But when they came to the pit, I 
saw a man in a brown cloak, going to and fro, and 
making motions under his cloak as one in a great 
agony. The buriers gathered round him, supposing 
him to be one of the desperate natures that would 
throw themselves alive into the grave. But they 
found him to be no such, but one oppressed with a 
dreadful weight of grief, for in the cart were his wife 
^ Torches carried by men. 



492 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and several of his children. When he saw their bodies 
shot into the pit, for to lay them decently was not 
possible, he gave a great cry, and fell down in a 
swoon. This, I say, was the most dreadful sight I 
ever saw. . 

In this place I will relate in what manner I myself 
lived when the Plague was at its height, following 
herein the counsel of a physician who was very skilful 
in his art, and also my very good friend. He bade 
me lock up myself and my family in my home, and 
not suffer any one to go abroad. Nor was I to open 
any door or window except I first made a very strong 
smoke with rosin, or pitch, or brimstone, or gun- 
powder, in the room where the door or window was 
to be opened. Not having laid in any store of pro- 
visions, I could not keep within doors entirely. 
Nevertheless, though it was very late, I attempted 
something towards it. I went and bought two sacks 
of meal, and having an oven for several weeks we 
baked all our own bread. Also, I bought malt, and 
brewed as much beer as would fill all the casks that I 
had in my house. Also I laid in a quantity of salt 
butter and Cheshire cheese. As for flesh meat, the 
Plague raged so violently among the butchers that I 
judged it not advisable to go among them ; so we 
were constrained to make shift without it. 

But though I kept my family, to wit, an old 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 493 

woman that managed the house, a maid-servant, and 
two apprentices, within doors, I could not prevail 
upon myself, so curious was I, to stay entirely within. 
Yet I seldom went abroad but that I came home 
greatly terrified with what I had seen, to wit, persons 
falling dead in the streets, for some were taken with 
the disease and did not know it, till it had consumed 
all their strength, and sick people heaving open their 
chamber windows, and crying out in a most dismal, 
surprising manner, and such-like things. 

Once, walking in Well Alley, I heard a great 
screaming in a house, and a noise of women and chil- 
dren running to and fro. Then I saw a garret 
window on the other side of the Alley thrown open, 
from which one called and asked, "What is the 
matter ? " Upon which from the other house it was 
answered, " O Lord ! my old master has hanged 
himself! " The other asked, " Is he quite dead } " and 
the first answered, " Ay, ay, quite dead ; quite dead 
and cold ! " This person was a merchant and a 
deputy-alderman, and very rich. 

Another day I walked out into the fields towards 
Bow, for I had a great mind to see how things were 
managed on the river and among the ships. I had 
even a thought, having some concern in shipping, that 
the best way to avoid infection would be to retire into 
a ship. Musing on this I turned from Bow to 



494 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

iBromley, and so to Blackwall. Here I saw a poor 
man walking by himself on the sea-wafl. I fell into 
some talk with him, and asked him, how people did 
thereabouts ? " Alas, sir," said he, " almost all deso- 
late ; all dead or sick." Then, pointing to one house, 
" There they are all dead," said he, " and the house 
stands open ; nobody dare go into it." Then I 
asked him what he did there alone. Thereupon he 
pointed to a very little low boarded house, and said : 
" That's my house ; and there are my poor wife and 
children. She is visited with the Plague, and so is 
one of the children. She, I hope, will recover ; but I 
fear the child will die. I work for them as much as I 
am able." " How is that ? " said I. " Why, sir," says 
he, " I am a waterman, and there's my boat, and the 
boat serves me for a house. I work in it by day, 
and sleep in it by night. What I get I lay down 
upon that stone," showing me a broad stone on the 
other side of the street, " and halloo and call to them 
till I make them hear, and they come and fetch it." 

" Well, friend," says I, " but how can you get any 
money as a waterman ? Does anybody go by water 
in these times?" Then he told me how he fetched 
provisions for ships that lay in the river, buying them 
from places not infected, as from Woolwich, and from 
single farm-houses on the Kentish side, places where 
he was known. 



THE GREAT PLAGUE. 495 

After some further talk, the poor woman opened 
the* door, and called, " Robert, Robert ! " He 
answered, and bade her stay a few moments, and 
he would come. So he ran down the stairs to his 
boat, and fetched up a sack in which were certain 
provisions that had been given him. These he took 
to the stone, and laid them out on it, and also the 
money that he had earned in the week, four shillings 
and a groat. His wife came and fetched them away, 
but was so weak that she could not carry all at once, 
though the weight was not much. So she left her 
little boy by it till she could come again. Then the 
man cried to her, " The Lord keep you all," and so he 
turned to go away. 

There are many more things to be told about this 
terrible time, of how some stayed bravely at their 
posts, as clergymen and others, and others fled for 
their lives ; how some were moved by the visitation 
to repentance, and others were made more desperate ; 
but I have consumed enough of time and space, and 
so must make an end. I may say, by way of conclu- 
sion, that the sum of those who died this year by the 
Plague, in London, was counted at 68,596 persons, 
but I should reckon it to have been near upon 
100,000. 

Note. — The population of London at this time was not more 
than 600,000. 



496 STOKJES FKOM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GREAT FIRE. 

Will God never set an end to the troubles of this 
city ? I had thought that in the year now past 
London had suffered its full measure of evil, yet now 
there has befallen it a yet worse thing. They that 
the Plague spared are now for the most part without 
a roof to cover them. 

'Tis a week now since I came back from Henley- 
upon-Thames, where I had been passing a week with 
my uncle Richard. Being somewhat tired with my 
journey, I went to my chamber at nine o'clock. An 
hour or so after John Pearce, my fellow 'prentice, woke 
me saying that there was a great fire burning near to 
London Bridge. I donned my clothes with all haste, 
for I have always been ready to go any whither for 
the sight of a fire. God forgive me if I did it from 
want of heart ! But this I can say of a certainty, that 
from this time forward such things will be no plea- 
sure to me but a terror. 

We found that there was a great conflagration. 



THE GREAT FIRE. 497 

scores of houses, as it seemed to me, burning together 
near to the end of London Bridge. One in the crowd 
told me that the fire began at the King's baker in 
Pudding Lane. By this time it had come to Fish 
Street, nor did there seem any Hkehhood of staying 
it, for, by some mischance, there was no water in the 
conduits of the New River. ^Had they been full, it 
would not, in my judgment, have availed much, for 
the heat was so fierce that none could approach the 
burning houses. The fire was all the worse because 
the wind blew so strongly. Nor must it be forgotten 
that everything was beyond usual ready to burn, the 
summer having been very hot and dry. While I 
watched, I saw a great flake of fire carried on to the 
roof of St. Magnus' Church, which, as you know, is hard 
by the Bridge. Certain sailors, at the instance of the 
parson, who was greatly concerned for his church, set 
a ladder against the parapet, and carried up buckets 
of water from the Thames. But it was of no more 
avail than if one poured a cup of water into the 
melting furnace at Hawkhurst.^ Indeed one of the 
men barely escaped with his life, the ladder catching 
fire before he could come to the ground. For the 
most part there was no thought of staying the flames, 
which indeed was plainly impossible, but of saving 

^ In Kent, one of the places where the manufacture of iron 
was carried on at this time. 

K K 



498 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

such goods and chattels as could be got out of the 
houses. Such as dwelt in the neighbourhood of the 
river fared best in this respect, for they put their 
possessions into barges and lighters. To the rest 
it often happened that they had to remove their 
property twice or thrice, the house to which it 
was first taken, though at first it had seemed safe, 
being soon in manifest danger of the flames. There 
were some who, having changed their refuge, so to 
speak, twice or thrice or even more often, yet lost in 
the end all that they possessed. Every place was 
crowded with people lamenting, and there were piti- 
able sights without end to be seen. Yet I know not 
whether anything more moved my heart than to see 
the pigeons which dwell in great numbers by the 
riverside, especially at the wharves where they store 
corn, flying about their cotes, as if being loth to leave 
them. The poor birds would tarry even till their 
wings were burned, and they dropped down into the 
fire. 'Tis strange that in the midst of such unhappi- 
ness of men and women I should think of brute 
creatures, yet so it was. 

About eight o'clock John Pearce and I went home 
— my master's house, you should know, is on the 
south side of the river, and so was out of danger. 
After breakfast, being quite spent, we slept awhile, 
but waking about noon, went forth again. A water- 



THE GREAT FIRE. 499 

man of our acquaintance took us in his boat, and we 
rowed to and fro till it was dark. All this time the 
fire grew fiercer and fiercer. Even on the river, we 
keeping as close as might be to the further shore, 'twas 
as much as we could do to endure the heat. Drops 
and flakes of fire also would be blown into our faces 
by the wind, so that we were glad to have the water 
so close at hand. At nightfall 'twas a most horrible 
sight we saw. The flame seemed not to be as of an 
ordinary fire, but more than commonly terrible, with a 
colour as of blood. And the compass of it was 
marvellously great. There was an arch of fire of 
more than a mile long. The noise too was most 
horrid, a continual roaring, and now and then a loud 
crash, when some great house or church fell in a ruin. 
That night John Pearce and I slept but two or 
three hours, if that which was so troubled could be 
called sleep, and then out again. This time our 
friend the waterman toojv us to Westminster, where 
we landed and went on foot along the Thames. At 
Temple Bar we encountered a certain alderman with 
whom my master often does business. Master 
Statham, for that is his name, was very wroth with my 
Lord Mayor. " The man is no better than a child" 
quoth he. " I myself stood by when Mr. Pepys, who 
is clerk to the Navy Board, came with a message from 
the King that he should spare no houses, but pull 



500 . 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



them down on every side, so that the fire, having 
nothing that it could devour, might die out. And 
what did he answer. ' Lord ! what can I do ? I am 
spent ; people will not obey me. I have been pulling 
down houses ; but the fire overtakes us faster than we 
can do it' And so all that he did was to go home 




THE GREAT FIRE. 



and refresh himself." I could not wonder at the 
Alderman's anger, for he had himself lost a fine 
house and a great store of goods, but it needed a man 
of no common parts, a Julius Caesar, or if I may 
name him, an Oliver Cromwell, to order things rightly, 
at such a time. 

Going eastwards, after we had parted from the 



THE GREAT FIRE. 501 

Alderman, we saw what seemed more terrible than any- 
thing that we had before beheld, the great church of 
St. Paul's in flames. The church is, or rather was — alas 
that I should write the word ! — near upon six hundred 
feet in length,i and more than one hundred feet in 
breadth, and the spire near upon five hundred 
feet high.2 The flames had not yet so mastered it 
but that one could see the whole form of the building, 
but they were breaking out of the windows and climb- 
ing, as it seemed to us, up the tower. 

I saw the Duke of York riding with his guards 
after him. They are much needed for the keeping 
of order. Evil-minded men took occasion of this 
trouble, as is always their custom, to make profit 
by robbery and the like. I hear that the King also 
has greatly bestirred himself to help at this time, but 
I have not chanced to see him. 

On the third day, that is Tuesday, I took boat 
again and went down the river as far as the Tower. 
It was indeed scarcely possible to make one's way by 
land, so great was the throng, for the country folk have 
crowded into the city, eager to see what may be seen, 
and some of them, I fear, hoping to lay hands upon 



^ The exact number was 596. 

^ The tower was 285, and the spire that rose from it 208 more, 
this was measured from the floor. The cross of new St. Paul's 
is 425 feet above the sea ; its actual height about 50 feet less. 



502 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

goods left without watch. Being by the Tower stairs 
I saw a great company of worknien that had come 
from Deptford and Woolwich. Mr. Pepys, who is a 
notably clever man, had sent for them. It was his 
purpose to blow up houses with gunpowder, for 'tis 
too slow a business to pull them down, and these men 
are used to deal with such work. This I heard from 
the captain of the barge in which they came. And, 
sure enough, about the space of two hours after, we 
heard a great and terrifying noise, and saw a great 
cloud of dust, as it seemed, rise into the air. Those 
that were there judged it to be near to Seething Lane, 
wherein is Mr. Pepys' office, which, because there are 
many papers and the like of great value, they are 
most desirous to save. But doubtless the same will 
be done in other parts. But 'tis strange to see how 
little men think of the public good, and how much of 
their own. 

Going the next day to the same spot, I found that 
the fire had been indeed stayed from spreading east- 
ward. Barking Church stands mostly unhurt, but 
the flames came so near that they scorched the dial 
and consumed part of the porch. Climbing to the top 
of the steeple I saw the saddest sight of desolation 
that ever I beheld ; everywhere great fires, all the 
more violent because there were many stores of 
brimstone, cellars of oil, and the like in those parts. 



THE DUTCH IN THE MEDIVAY. 503 

Clothworkers' Hall, where there was a great store 
of oil, burnt, as I heard afterwards, for three whole days. 

It is too early as yet, for I am writing this on the 
eighth day after the beginning of the fire, to reckon 
up the total damage. So much, however, is known, 
that the whole city between the Tower and the 
Temple has been consumed, and in this portion 
eighty-six churches, not reckoning St. Paul's. 

There is much talk about the cause of this great 
calamity. Some will have it that the Dutch sent 
over men to kindle it ; others, and this is indeed the 
more common belief, protest that it has been the work 
of the Papists. For myself, I pretend neither to 
affirm nor to deny, except so far as to say that there 
is no need to look beyond the causes that we know. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY. 

The most dreadful plague and the worst fire that 
had ever been known in England were followed in 
the very next year (1667) by the greatest disgrace 



S04 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that the country ever suffered. This disgrace was 
greatly due to the wickedness of the King, Charles II. 
He wasted on his own pleasures the money which 
should have been spent on the fleet.^ You will re- 
member how, in the time of the Protector, Blake had 
won victory after victory over the Dutch fleets. And 
even in the war which began in 1664 the English had 
held their own, winning a great battle off Lowestoft, 
on June 3, 1665 ; and though defeated off the North 
Foreland on June i — 4, 1666, being again victorious 
in a battle near the mouth of the Thames about two 
months later. In 1667 there were negotiations for 
peace. Everything was settled except the right to 
one of the Spice Islands which the Dutch were under 
promise to give back to England. The King took it 
for granted that this would be arranged, and ordered 
the fleet to be dismantled. The fewer ships he had to 
keep up, the more money he would have to spend on 
himself and on his favourites. But the matter of the 
island was not settled, and peace was not made. The 
Dutch saw their opportunity and did not fail to use it. 
De Ruyter, who was in chief command, ordered the 

^ Samuel Pepys, who was Secretary to the Navy at this time, 
writes in his Diary (Sept. 23, 1666) that it would be difficult 
to tell what had become of all the money that Parliament had 
voted for the war. This was about ;i{^4,ooo,ooo, whereas only 
;^2, 200,000 had been spent, and what should have remained was 
not to be found. 



THE DUTCH IN THE MEDIVAY. 



505 



fleet, which consisted of seventy vessels, to meet him 
in separate squadrons at the buoy off the Nore. He 
intended to sail up the Thames and the Medway, and 
to destroy the docks in which many of the EngHsh 
ships were laid up. 

The English Government knew what was in- 
tended, and did something to guard against it. Three 




MEN OF WAR. 



months before they had given orders to build a fort 
at Sheerness, to throw a boom across the Medway, 
to furnish the batteries with guns, and to get ready 
ten fire-ships. But to give orders for works without 
money to carry them out was useless. The Com- 
missioners of the Navy were already nearly a million 
in debt, and money was more scarce than it had been for 



5o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

a long time. This state of things had been brought 
about by the Plague and the Fire. Commonly when 
money was wanted in a hurry, the rich Companies and 
merchants in the City were able to lend it. But now 
they had nothing to spare. The Plague had stopped 
all trade for more than half-a-year, and when this was 
at an end the fire came and destroyed half of London. 
This had to be rebuilt. So the English Government 
would have found it hard to borrow, even if it had 
had good credit. Anyhow there was no money; the 
sailors refused to serve ; the labourers would not work. 
So De Ruyter found no real resistance. He sent 
one squadron as far as Gravesend ; the other was 
to go up the Medway and burn the shipping that 
was in that river. The fort at Sheerness, which 
is on the right bank of the river where it joins the 
sea, fired upon the Dutch fleet, but to little or no 
purpose. The boom, however, was of more use. It 
stood against the shock of the Dutch men-of-war, 
though they came against it with both wind and tide. 
But even here the Government had been badly served. 
There was another channel which had been left 
unguarded. The Dutch vessels made their way up 
this, and opened fire upon the forts. At the same 
time, first one heavy fire-ship was driven against the 
boom, and then another ; the chain broke under the 
weight of the two ; very soon the guard-ships which 



THE DUTCH IN THE MED WAY. 507 

had been moored behind it were on fire. The next 
disaster that happened was the taking of the hull of 
the Royal CJuxrles, a man-of-war pf the largest size. 
It had been left too far down the river. Samuel 
Pepys writes in his Diary (June 13) — "No sooner 
up but hear the sad news confirmed of the Royal 
Charles being taken by them, and now in fitting 
by them (which Pett should have carried up higher 
by our several orders, and deserves, therefore, to 
be hanged for not doing it)." The next day, in spite 
of all the English were able to do in the night by 
way of mounting guns on the batteries, and collecting 
men to work them, there were fresh losses. The 
Dutch again came up the river. The men-of-war 
anchored in front of the batteries and engaged them. 
Meanwhile the fire-ships went on and burnt three 
more first-rates, the Royal J antes ^ Oak, and London. 
This done, the Dutch fleet went down the river again 
to the Nore. 

De Ruyter now sailed along the south coast. 
There was no fleet to hinder him, but when he 
attempted to burn the ships at Portsmouth, Plymouth, 
and Torbay, he failed ; nor did he again venture to 
sail up the Thames. But he had inflicted such a 
disgrace upon England as is scarcely to be equalled 
in all her history. 



5o8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER VIK 

THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 

Charles II., who had certainly during his life 
showed himself as careless of religion as a man could 
be, declared himself on his death-bed to be a Roman 
Catholic. His brother, James, Duke of York, who 
succeeded him, had for many years belonged to the 
Roman Church. There had, indeed, been an attempt 
to prevent him from becoming king on this account 
but it had failed. Now, those who professed the 
Roman Catholic faith had much to put up with. 
They could not hold offices under Government, nor 
sit in Parliament, nor were they allowed to have 
public service in their churches or chapels. King 
James was determined to release them from their 
"disabilities," as they were called. In 1687 he 
published a Declaration, in which he said that though 
he would gladly see all his people of the same faith 
as himself, he would not use any force to bring this 
about. He wished his subjects, whatever their belief, 
to have liberty to practise it openly. The Established 



THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 509 

Church should still have her legal rights, but those 
who differed from her were not to suffer for it. No 
one, in particular, was to be kept out of any office 
because he did not belong to the Established Church. 

Now all this may have been right, but the King 
had no power to do it. He was really trying to 
repeal, by his own simple word, a number of Acts 
of Parliament. The Declaration was issued a second 
time on April 27, 1688. A week afterwards the King 
made an Order in Council that it was to be read on 
two Sundays— May 20th and 27th— in every church 
and chapel in London, and on two other Sundays — 
June 3rd and 1 0th— in all the other churches of 
England and Wales. 

The clergy of London held a meeting to decide 
whether the Order was to be obeyed. At first the 
majority were disposed to obey. But one of their 
number declared that, whatever others might do, he 
would not read it. Some of the most eminent of 
the others agreed with him. In the end it was 
generally determined that the Declaration should not 
be read. The Bishops also held a meeting, and came 
to the same conclusion. They consulted with some 
of the other clergy, and drew up a petition to the 
King. They should be ready, they said, to do all 
they could to relieve in the proper way the consciences 
of those who differed from them, but they had been 



5IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

advised that the King had no power to issue the 
Declaration, and that therefore they could not send 
it out for the clergy to read. This paper was signed 
by the Archbishop and six Bishops. The six went 
to the King to put it before him. No time was to be 
lost, for it was Friday, and the next Sunday was the 
day appointed for its first reading. Bishop Lloyd, 
of St. Asaph, presented it to the King. James, who 
had not expected them to resist, was very angry. 
" I did not expect this from you. This is a standard 
of rebellion." The Bishops were greatly troubled by 
the word. Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, fell on his 
knees and said, " For God's sake, sir, do not say so 
hard a thing of us. No Trelawney can be a rebel. 
Remember how my family has fought for the Crown." 
" We are ready," said another, " to die at your feet." 
The King grew more and more angry. " I will be 
obeyed," he said ; " go to your dioceses and see that 
I am obeyed. This paper I will keep. I will re- 
member you that have signed it." 

On the Sunday the Declaration was read in four 
only out of the hundred churches in London. Even 
in these the congregation left the place before the 
reading was finished. Much the same happened in 
the country. Not one clergyman in fifty obeyed the 
order. 

A few days afterwards the Seven were called before 



THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 



511 



the Council. The King could do nothing to make 
them change their minds, and that evening they 
were sent to the Tower. As they were taken down 
the Thames from Whitehall, they were greeted by 
thousands of people with loud cheers ; many even 
rushed into the water to ask for their blessing. The 
very sentinels of the Tower did the same, and the 
garrison would drink no other health. Many people 




WESTMINSTER HALL. 



of the highest rank came next day to pay them their 
respects. Among their visitors were ten Noncon- 
formist ministers. The Protestant Dissenters would 
not consent to be helped by the King, if this was to 
be done against law. The Bishops remained in prison 
for a week only ; on June 29 they were brought to 
trial. 

Meanwhile the whole country was greatly moved 
by what had happened. In Cornwall, the native 



512 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

county of Bishop Trelawney, the miners sang a 
ballad of which the chorus was — 

" And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die ? 
Then twenty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason 
why." 

When the 29th came, the lawyers of the Crown did 
their best to " pack " the jury, i. e. to let no one be 
a member of it who would not be likely to find a 
verdict of guilty. But they could not hinder the 
prisoners' right to object to a certain number of jury- 
men. Some of the forty-eight summoned were Roman 
Catholics, some were in the King's service. To these 
the Bishops' lawyers objected. The Crown lawyers, on 
the other hand, objected to some whom they believed 
to be inclined to the cause of the Bishops. The 
Chief Justice and the three other Judges of the 
King's Bench sat to try the case. The Bishops were 
accused of publishing a " libel," i. e. something either 
false, or, if true, of such a kind as to do injury to 
some one. 

The first thing was to prove that the petition 
presented to the King was written by the Bishops. 
The lawyers called witnesses to swear to the hand- 
writing, but they could get nothing certain from 
them. Then they called a Clerk of the Council, who 
had been present when the Bishops had been brought 
before it. He swore that he had heard them own to 



THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 513 

their signatures. Then it came out that they had 
done this at the King's command, and in the belief 
that their doing this would not be used against them. 
The King had, indeed, made no promise, but the 
' Bishops had understood that they would be safe in 
doing what they did. This was the reason why the 
lawyers had tried to prove the writing in other ways. 
It was not to the credit of the King that he 
should have made the prisoners give evidence against 
themselves. 

Then it became necessary to prove that the libel 
had been published. The Bishops had written and 
signed the paper, but was this the paper given to the 
King? Here also there was a difficulty, but at last 
this, too, was removed by the Earl of Sunderland, 
who was President of the Council. 

Lastly came the great question which the jury had 
to decide. Was the petition really a libel, false or 
malicious t The lawyers on both sides argued this 
question, and the judges gave their opinions. The 
Chief Justice thought that it was false and malicious; 
so did another of the judges. The third, however, 
declared that it seemed to him nothing more than 
what a subject might lawfully present; and the 
fourth boldly affirmed that the Declaration of 
Indulgence was against law, and that therefore the 
Bishops were quite in the right. 



514 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The jury was locked up to consider their verdict, 
being carefully watched to see that no food or drink 
reached them. At first nine were for acquitting, and 
three for convicting. Then two of the three gave 
way. The only one that held out was Michael 
Arnold, the King's brewer. He had been very un- 
willing to serve. It was reported that he had said, 
"Whatever I do I am sure to be half-ruined. If I say 
Not Guilty, I shall brew no more for the King ; if 
I say Guilty, I shall brew no more for any one else." 
One of the eleven wished to argue the question with 
him. Arnold sulkily refused. His conscience was 
not satisfied, and he would not acquit the Bishops. 
" If it comes to that," said the other, " look at me. 
I am the largest and strongest of the twelve ; before 
I find such a petition as this a libel, here will I stay 
till I am no bigger than a tobacco pipe." It was 
six in the morning before Arnold yielded. 

At ten o'clock the court met, and the foreman of 
the jury gave in the verdict of N^ot Guilty. It was 
met with a tremendous shout of applause. Every- 
where the news was heard with delight. That day 
the King visited the camp at Hounslow. When the 
news was brought to him, he set out for London. As 
soon as his back was turned, the soldiers broke out 
into a cheer. He asked the reason. " Nothing, sire," 
was the answer. " They are only cheering because 



L OND ONDERR V. 515 

the Bishops are acquitted." " Do you call that 
nothing?" he said; "so much the worse for them." 
Less than five months afterwards King James fled 
from England. 



CHAPTER Vlil. 

LONDONDERRY. 



The cause of King James was lost for ever in Eng- 
land, but in Ireland it still prevailed. It was not that 
the Irish people had any particular liking for him. He 
was a foreigner, and they had always wished to be 
ruled by a prince of their own race. But then he was 
no longer King of England, and he was of their own 
way of thinking in religion. To have a Roman 
Catholic king, who would have no reason to prefer 
the interests of England to the interests of Ireland, 
was, they felt, the best thing that they were likely to 
get. But the north-east corner of Ireland was very 
differently situated from the rest of the island. The 
inhabitants were mostly Protestants, Englishmen and 
Scotchmen who had come over and settled on lands 
that had formerly belonged to the natives. Many of 



516 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

them were sons of Cromwell's soldiers ; some of the 
old men among them had actually fought under him. 
They hated King James as much as did any one in 
England, probably hated him more, because they 
would be certain to lose more, if he should succeed.^ 

The chief town in this portion of Ireland was 
Londonderry, and Londonderry refused to submit 
to King James. Thousands of Protestants from the 
country round, and from more distant parts of Ireland, 
flocked into it for shelter. It was only there and in 
Enniskillen that a Protestant's life and property were 
safe. Unfortunately, Londonderry itself was in 
danger. The walls by which it was defended had 
never been very strong, and they had been allowed to 
get out of repair. The supply of food was very small, 
while there were a great many more people than usual 
to be provided for. Worst of all, the governor, one 
Colonel Lundy, was bent on giving the place up to 
King James. We cannot say whether he was a traitor 
or a coward, but it is certain that he did his best 
to discourage the garrison and the inhabitants. The 
city, he said, could not possibly hold out, and the 
best thing that could be done was to make terms with 

1 The Irish ParHament had already passed one Act taking 
away a large part of the property owned by Protestants, and 
another which condemned to death, without trial, nearly every 
Protestant above the rank of a shopkeeper or an artisan. 



Z ONDONDERR V. 517 

the besiegers. On April 14 two regiments arrived. 
They had been sent from England to strengthen the 
garrison. Lundy told the colonel who commanded 
them that it would be useless for him to land his sol- 
diers. The place could not be defended, and there 
was not food enough even for the garrison that it had 
already. He and his regiments had better go back 
to England at once. After speaking in this way to 




LONDONDERRY CATHEDRAL. 



the colonel privately, Lundy called a council of war, 
from which, however, he took pains to shut out any 
officer that wished to resist. The council decided to 
surrender, and a messenger was sent to King James 
to say that Londonderry would be peaceably given 
up to him, as soon as it should be summoned. 

This decision was not at all to the liking of the 
inhabitants. Even the soldiers refused to obey their 



5i8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

commander. The gates were shut ; the guns upon 
the walls were manned. When Khig James, who felt 
sure that the city would be surrendered to him, rode 
with his staff near one of the gates, a cannon-shot 
was fired at the party, and killed an officer by the 
King's side. Two governors were chosen by the prin- 
cipal inhabitants, one of them a soldier. Baker by 
name, who was to look after military affairs, the other, 
an old clergyman, the Rev. George Walker, Rector of 
Donaghmore, who was to manage matters in the city 
itself, and issue the allowances of food. King James 
still hoped to gain the town. He sent a trumpeter 
with a message to know when the agreement which 
Governor Lundy had made to surrender would be 
carried out. The man was told that the people of 
Londonderry had nothing to do with Governor 
Lundy's agreements, and that they were determined 
to resist to the last. Another envoy, an Irish noble, 
came the following day. Murray, the colonel of one of 
the regiments, rode out to meet him. " I am to offer," 
said the envoy, "a free pardon to all the citizens of 
Londonderry, and to you a colonel's commission and 
a thousand pounds." The answer was — " The citizens 
of Londonderry have done nothing that requires a 
pardon, and have no sovereign but King William and 
Queen Mary." The envoy was advised to depart at 
once and not to come again. 



L OND ON D ERR Y, 519 

After this the siege was begun in earnest. The 
town was bombarded, with no Httle damage to the 
houses and some loss of Hfe. At first this caused 
much dismay, but the inhabitants got used to it, as men 
will get used to anything. On April 21 the besieged 
made a sally, and a fierce fight followed, in which a 
French general, who had the command of King 
James' army, was killed. They made another about 
a fortnight later, in which another French officer of 
high rank received a wound, which, not many days 
after, for want of skill in the doctors, caused his death. 
For several weeks after this fighting went on, and, on 
the whole, the men of Londonderry had the best of it, 
taking both prisoners and flags from the enemy. Then 
Hamilton, who, after the Frenchman's death, had suc- 
ceeded to the chief command of the army, ordered an 
assault to be made. The point to be attacked was a 
spot called Windmill Hill, near the southern gate. A 
forlorn hope, consisting of men who had taken an oath 
to make their way into the town or die in the attempt, 
was led by a certain Captain Butler to the attack. 
The besieged received them, drawn up in three lines, 
the men who stood behind loading the muskets of 
those who stood in front. The struggle was long and 
fierce. The Irish fought bravely, but they could not 
drive the defenders from their place. The women of 
Londonderry were busy serving out powder and shot 



526 STORIMS FROM ENGLISH HIS TOR Y. . 

to their husbands and relatives. A few of the attacking 
party managed to climb the wall where it was lowest, 
but they were all killed or taken prisoners. When 
the besiegers had lost four hundred men, they were 
ordered by their commanding officer to fall back. 

As the town could not be taken by storm, there was 
nothing left but to blockade and starve it out. It was 
easy enough to do this by land, but there was the 
river, by which English ships could pass up to the 
town with food. True, there were forts and batteries, 
but these might be passed at night, or, indeed, with 
some risk at other times. The besiegers, therefore, 
proceeded to barricade the river. They sank boats 
loaded with stones, drove stakes into the bottom of 
the stream, and tied heavy logs of wood together with 
cables a foot thick. They thus made a boom or fence 
right across the river. Until this was broken, nothing 
could pass, and Londonderry was shut off from all 
help. The brave men who were holding Enniskillen 
would have been glad to help if it had been possible, 
but they were not strong enough to do more than 
harass the outside of the enerriy's camp. Meanwhile, 
inside the walls, the famine grew worse and worse. 
There was no flesh but horseflesh, and very little 
of that; the wretched people were glad to have a 
little tallow doled out to them. At last, on June 
15, when the siege had lasted nearly two months, 



LONDONDERRY. 52 1 

there was some hope of relief. The sails of ships 
could be seen from the top of the Cathedral tower. 
These ships were in Lough Foyle, an arm of the sea, 
as it may be called, into which the Londonderry 
river runs ; and they were, without doubt, the squadron 
that had come from England to relieve the town. 
Shortly after, a messenger, who had dived under the 
boom, brought the news. The ships were carrying 
men, ammunition, and, above all, food. Londonderry 
v/as to be relieved. 

So men hoped, but it was long before the hope was 
fulfilled. The officer who commanded the squadron 
did not think it safe to approach. He had not men 
enough to attack the enemy's lines ; he was afraid to 
charge the boom with his ships. For weeks he lay in 
Lough Foyle doing nothing. 

Famine, and the fever which always follows famine, 
were busy in the town. Many died, among them 
Governor Bake;- ; those who survived were so weak 
that they could hardly bear arms. Yet the brave 
people of Londonderry held out. They even endured 
what must have been not less hard to bear than 
hunger and disease — the sight of their own countrymen 
dying of starvation under the walls of their tov/n. 
The command of the siege had been handed over to 
Rosen, a Russian officer in the French service. This 
man drove a number of old men, women, and children 



522 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

from the country round up to the walls. The besieged, 
he thought, must either take them in, and so have 
more to feed, or must see them die before their eyes 
The townsmen, by way of answer, put up gibbets on 
the wall, and declared that, unless these poor creatures 
were allowed to go away, they would hang the 
prisoners whom they had in their hands. Rosen held 
out for two days before he gave way ; many had died 
during this time. 

King James now took the chief command away 
from Rosen, and the siege went on more vigorously 
than ever. The cannons never ceased to fire ; one 
of the gates was beaten in ; a breach was made 
in the walls. Still the brave men of Londonderry 
repaired by night the damage that had been done 
by day, and this though they were so weak for 
want of food that they could hardly stand. For, of 
course, as the weeks went by, the famine grew worse 
and worse. Of proper food hardly any was left. 
There was a store of salted hides, meant to be made 
into leather ; these the soldiers and others gnawed, and 
so were able to stay their hunger a little. Dogs and 
rats were greedily eaten when they could be caught ; 
there was even talk of making a m.eal off human flesh. 
And all this time the people could see the ships in 
Lough Foyle, and knew that if they could come up 
the river there would be plenty of food for all. 



LONDONDERRY. 523 

Colonel Kirke, who was in command of the fleet, 
ought to have made the attempt to force the passage 
as soon as he came. He now received a command 
which he dared not disobey, that it must be made at 
all risks and without delay. The master of one of the 
merchantmen now went to Kirke, and offered to run 
his ship, the Moiintjoy, against the boom, on the 
chance of breaking it down. His name was Micaiah 
Browning, and he was a native of Londonderry. The 
offer was accepted, as also another made by Andrew 
Douglas, master of the Phoenix. The two ships sailed 
up the river from Lough Foyle, and with them was a 
frigate, carrying 36 guns, the Dartmouth, commanded 
by Captain John Leake. At sunset, on July 28, 
these three came up the river from Lough Foyle. 
The tide was flowing, but the water was still very low, 
and the channel by which they had to pass was close 
to the left bank of the river, where the besiegers had 
made batteries on which many guns were mounted. 
A sharp cannonade was kept up on the vessels from 
the shore, to which the Dartmouth did its best to 
reply. When they came to the boom, the Mountjoy 
charged it. The ship had all its sails set, and was 
carried on by the force of the tide, and the boom could 
not stand the force of the blow, but broke. Still, the 
shock to the Mountjoy was so great that she was 
driven back into the mud. The Irish soldiers on the 



524 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

bank raised a great shout, got into their boats, and 
prepared to board. But the frigate came to the rescue, 
pouring such a broadside on them that they were 
thrown into confusion. Meanwhile, the Phcenix dashed 
at the opening which the Mountjoy had made, and 
passed safely through the boom. The Mountjoy too 
was soon floated off by the rising tide, and followed 
her companion ship, without suffering much injury, 
though her brave captain was killed, struck by a shot 
from one of the batteries. By ten o'clock the two 
ships had reached the quay. As it was sunset when 
they came up to the boom, and the sun does not set 
so far north on July 28 till past nine o'clock, not 
much time had been lost. But short as it was, this time 
had been one of terrible suspense to the townsfolk. 
Now all their troubles were over ; an ample supply of 
food was distributed to every one ; nor did it trouble 
any one that the guns of the besiegers went on 
thundering throughout the night. They lit bonfires 
on the walls, and rang out a merry peal from the bells 
of the churches. For two days more the besiegers 
kept up the cannonade; on the night of July 31 they 
burnt their camp and marched away. 



BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 5^5 



CHAPTER IX. 

BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 

It is easy to understand that when it seemed likely 
that the two great kingdoms of France and Spain ^ 
would be united in the hands of the same ruler, the 
other nations of Europe would see danger to them- 
selves. After much trouble an arrangement was made, 
by which it was provided that France and Spain 
should not be so united. But Louis XIV., though he 
had agreed to it, refused to abide by it. Hence began 
what is called '* The War of the Spanish Succession." 
Some of the European nations joined in a " Grand 
Alliance " to resist the ambition of the French king. 
It is not certain that England would have joined 
it, though King William III. was anxious that it 
sho\ild, but for one thing. When James II. of Eng- 
land was dying, his wife prevailed upon Louis XIV. to 

^ It must be remembered that Spain was much more powerful 
than it is now ; it possessed the Spanish Netherlands (about 
corresponding to Belgium), Milan and the territory round 
it, Naples and Sicily, and a very large region in Central and 
South Anierica. 



526 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

promise that he would recognize his son as King of 
England. Accordingly, no sooner was King James 
dead (Sept. 6, 1701) than his son^ was proclaimed 
King of England under the title of James III. The 
English people were greatly enraged, and King 
William had no more difficulty in persuading them to 
follow his advice. He himself died half-a-year later 
(March 8, 1702), but his death made no change 
in English policy. John Churchill, whom William 
III. had made Earl of Marlborough, was appointed 
Commander-in-Chief. He had done his best, or worst, 
to injure William, but he was a great general, and 
the King, when he was dying, recommended him 
to the Princess Anne, who was to succeed, as the very 
best man that she could find to carry on the war. 

It was no easy matter to get together an army. 
Men who had been put into prison for debt — -and in 
those days, and indeed for long after, debtors were 
treated with the greatest . cruelty — were released if 
they were willing to serve. Recruits were even taken 
from the prisons. Vagrants and tramps were com- 
pelled to enlist. Even then the proper number" of 
men could not be found. But in Germany there were 
many who were willing to become soldiers. During 
the last century there had been so much fighting that 
the labourers had been obliged to become soldiers. 

1 See Chapter XI. 




THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH AS A YOUNG ENSIGN. 



BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 529 

It was useless to cultivate fields which might be 
ravaged any day. In fact, service in the army was 
for many the only livelihood that they could follow. 
Then again, the small German princes were glad 
to hire out their subjects as soldiers to States that 
were willing to pay for them. 

Marlborough went to Holland in May 1702, and 
was made Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch army. 
Various German princes, the Elector of Hanover, 
afterwards George I. of England, among them, joined 
him. He had altogether about 60,000 men. But 
it was difficult to manage an army made up of so 
many States ; and still more difficult to manage their 
rulers, each of whom had his own interests to look 
after. That year various towns were taken, of which 
Liege was the most important. A very great mis- 
fortune had very nearly happened to the Allies. As 
Marlborough was on his way down the river Maas to 
the Hague, his barge was taken by some French 
soldiers. An old servant who was with him slipped 
into his hand a French pass which had been given 
some time before to his brother. The Frenchmen 
were deceived and let him go. 

It would take long to describe what was done in the 
course of the next year (1703). Marlborough was 
continually hindered by the Dutch. A committee of 
Dutch Councillors went about with him, and he had 



530 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

always to consult them. They were cautious, even, 
one may say, timid, and unwilling to run any risk. 
Some of Marlborough's best schemes were spoilt 
because they were afraid to give their consent. It 
may be said that, on the whole, the Allies made no 
great advance. Marlborough resolved that the next 
year should not be lost in the same way. He marched 
into South Germany, and at the beginning of July 
had reached Wiirtemberg. He had, as I have said, 
a curiously mixed army ; but there were no troops 
so much admired as the English. " These gentlemen 
all look as if they were dressed for a ball," said 
one of the German Princes to an English General. 
On August 2 Marlborough stormed a strong place 
called the Schellenberg. He lost 4500 men in 
doing it, but of the enemy's garrison of 12,000 only 
3000 escaped. Many were drowned in attempting 
to swim the river that stopped their flight ; still more 
were drowned by the breaking of the bridge that had 
been made across it. Eleven days later came the 
great battle of Blenheim. That it was to be a great 
battle every one felt. Marlborough, who had received 
the Holy Communion before 'dawn, cried, as he 
mounted his horse — " This day I conquer or die." 

The army of the Allies consisted of 52,000 men; 
about two-thirds being under the immediate command 
of Marlborough. The rest were led by Prince Eugene 



BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 531 

of Savoy. The French, on the other hand, had about 
56,000 men ; Marshal Tallard was in chief command, 
and seems to have shown a strange want of skill, and 
even of common care. In the first place, he did not 
know that the Allied army was so near him ; second- 
ly, he did not know how strong it was, thinking, in 
particular, that Prince Eugene had indeed joined 
Marlborough, but had not brought an army with him. 
Then he had not taken any trouble in protecting his 
position. His camp had a river in front of it and 
between him and the Allies. He took it for granted 
that it was too deep to ford, because it had been so in 
October, whereas it was now August. There was a 
bridge over it, but this he neither broke down nor 
fortified. There were two mills upon it ; these he did 
not take the trouble to occupy. Finally, he left a 
large space between his camp and the river, in which 
the enemy, if he got across the river, would find ample 
space to draw up his army. Of course he ought 
to have moved his troops right up to the bank, so 
that the Allies would have to meet them as soon 
as they should get out of the water. 

On the right of the French position was the village 
of Blenheim. By some blunder, a great body of 
French troops was shut up in this place. A great 
part of it was protected by the two rivers, the Danube 
and the Nebel, which flows into it; the rest was 



532 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Strongly fortified. Four thousand men would have 
been quite sufficient to guard it, but there were more 
than three times as many, so closely packed together 
that many of them could hardly use their guns. 

Marlborough kept his army waiting till Prince 
Eugene on the right could reach his proper position 
(he had to make his way by a long circuit). This 
was not done till one o'clock (you will remember that 
the troops began to move at dawn). When this 
was signalled, the advance was ordered. On the 
left, General Cutts, nicknamed the "Salamander,"^ 
attacked the village of Blenheim. But this place was 
held too strongly to be taken. The Allies suffered con- 
siderable loss in the attack, and Marlborough sent word 
to General Cutts that he must be content to keep the 
garrison of the village occupied without exposing his 
own men more than could be helped. On the right, 
Prince Eugene's troops, who were greatly fatigued by 
their long march, — much longer than that of any other 
part of the army, — could make no impression on the 
enemy. The Danes, Dutch, and Hanoverians, who 
were between the Prince and Marlborough, did not 
fare any better. They were opposed to an Irish 
brigade in the service of the French king, and suffered 
great loss. Marlborough himself had to go to their 

^ A salamander is a kind of lizard which was once supposed to 
be able to live in the middle of fire. 



BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 533 

help. When he had done this he prepared to make 
the great effort of the day. He had drawn up his 
cavalry, 8000 in number, on the slope of ground 
which went down from the French camp to the river. 
The river, it should be said, he had been allowed 
to cross without meeting with any opposition. He 
now gave the signal to charge. He was met with a 
heavy fire, which for a time threw his lines into dis- 
order. If the French cavalry had taken advantage 
of the opportunity, the result of the day might have 
been different. But they did not move, though they 
were actually more numerous than the Allies. Marl- 
borough, always calm, however great the danger, 
formed his lines again, and led them once more to the 
charge. As they came near the French squadrons, the 
latter broke and fled. The infantry, finding them- 
selves deserted, followed their example, and in a very 
short time the centre of the French army had ceased 
to exist. The left, that portion which Prince 
Eugene had in vain attacked, withdrew in good order, 
without suffering much loss. But the right, the 
14,000 men who were crowded into the village of 
Blenheim, were not so fortunate. They had made 
their position more difficult by setting fire to the 
village. When they attempted to escape, they were 
driven back. On the other hand, the Allies were 
not able to carry the barricades. The general in 



534 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

command of the French saw that it was useless to 
resist any longer. He sent a messenger to ask for 
terms. The answer was that, by Marlborough's orders, 
they must surrender without conditions. It was hard 
for brave men to submit to such a disgrace, but there 
seemed no other course. The 14,000 men gave them- 
selves up as prisoners. All that they could do was to 
burn or destroy their flags. 

The loss of the French was very great, amounting 
in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to 40,000, or more 
than two-thirds of their army. The Allies had about 
4500 killed, and 7500 wounded. The English num- 
bered only about 9000 men, but it will have been seen 
that they had more than their full share in the fighting 
and in the victory. 

In the next year (1705) little was done; Marl- 
borough could not get the Dutch to move, and he 
could not move without them. But in 1706, another 
great victory, greater in some respects than Blenheim 
itself, was won. The French general, Marshal 
Villeroi, made the mistake of supposing that Marl- 
borough had not yet got his army together, and put 
himself in the way of a battle which he ought to have 
done his best to avoid. He made another mistake in 
the position which he took up. His line of battle was 
curved like a bow, one may say, while Marlborough's 
army was like the string. The string is shorter than 



BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 535 

the bow, and so Marlborough could bring more men, 
and more quickly to bear on any one point, than could 
Villeroi. Another thing that put the French com- 
mander at a disadvantage was this. He was made to 
believe that Marlborough intended to attack his left 
wing, and so strengthened it with troops which he had 
to take away from places where they were more 
wanted. The chief fighting of the day took place on 
the right wing. The English drove the French out of 
the little village of Taviere, and then charged the 
famous corps of Musketeers, which was posted behind 
it. They broke the first line, but were driven back by 
the second. Marlborough came to their aid with his 
cavalry — he always made a great use of cavalry — 
and compelled the Musketeers to retreat. Mean- 
while a mound, called the Tomb of Ottomond, had 
been occupied with cannon, which swept the whole of 
the French line. The next thing was that the French 
left was attacked in the rear. This completed the 
rout. It was a great victory, and, to compare it with 
other battles, did not cost the conquerors very much, 
a few more than 3000 in killed and wounded. The 
French lost 8000 in killed and wounded. Nearly 
as many more, natives of the country, deserted, some 
going home, others joining the Allies. All the bag- 
gage fell into the hands of the English. Nearly 
all the Spanish Netherlands was lost to France by 



536 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

this battle of Ramillies. " We have done in four days," 
Marlborough wrote to his wife at home, "what we 
should have thought ourselves happy if we could 
be sure of in four years." 

A third great victory was won in 1708 at Ouden- 
arde, and a fourth in 1709 at Malplaquet ; but this 
last was a victory only in name ; for though Marl- 
borough drove the French from the field of battle, he 
lost 20,000 in killed and wounded, to 12,000 of the 
enemy. 



CHAPTER X. 

GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 

Anne was the younger of the two daughters of 
James II., by his first wife, Anne Hyde, daughter 
of the Earl of Clarendon. There were other children 
of the marriage, but these two only lived to grow up. 
Mary married William Prince of Orange, himself a 
grandson of Charles I., and reigned with him as joint 
sovereign till her death in 1694. It had been settled 
that if she left no children the crown should pass 



GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 537 

to Anne, but that William should be king for the 
rest of his life. He lived till 1702, and then Anne 
succeeded. 

She had been married at nineteen to George, Prince 
of Denmark, a cousin of her own,^ and had had many 
children, of whom one only, William Duke of Glou- 
cester, lived beyond infancy. The Prince was born 
July 24, 1689, and grew up to be a very interesting 
child. He was weakly and ailing, for at four years 
of age he was scarcely able to walk without support, 
but he had plenty of life and' cleverness. Indeed, 
the disease from which he suffered is one that often 
makes children seem older than their real age.^ His 
chief amusement seems to have been playing at 
soldiers. He had a band of boys whom he called 
his "horse-guards," and he used to exercise them 
in the gardens of Campden House, in Kensington, 
where his father and mother resided. Young as he 
was, he had a very clear notion of his own importance. 
He knew, for instance, that he was heir to the throne, 
and ought to have honours shown to him. One 

1 He was great-nephew of her great-grandmother, Anne of 
Denmark, wife of James I., i. e. second cousin, one degree 
removed. 

^ It was water on the brain. We are told that his head was 
so large that his hat was big enough for most men, and that 
it was difficult to find a wig to fit him. It is curious to hear of 
a child of four wearinsj- a wisf. 



538 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

day when King William came to inspect his boy 
soldiers, and he had promised that the King should 
have them to help him in his war against the French, 
he turned to Queen Mary and asked, " Why does not 
my mamma have guards as well as you ? " Anne 
had had her guards taken from her by the King and 
Queen, with whom she was on very bad terms. The 
Duke's little soldiers seem to have been very ill- 
behaved, giving themselves the airs of grown men, 
and taking what they pleased from the houses round, 
just as if the place belonged to them. The poor 
child seems to have been foolishly treated by his 
father on the one side, who wanted to harden him 
by rough amusements for which he was not strong 
enough, and, on the other, by his mother and her 
ladies with their petting. In January 1696 the 
King gave the young Duke the Order of the Garter, 
and did him the honour of buckling it on with his 
own hands. " Are you not glad to have this ? " some 
one asked him. " I am gladder of the King's 
favour," was the wise answer of the prudent little 
boy. In the summer of this year he was taken for 
the first time to Windsor, which his mother had now 
for a summer residence. Four boys from Eton 
School, one of them the son of the Duke of Marl- 
borough, of whom you have read in Chapter IX., 
were sent for to be his playfellows. He immediately 



GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 539 

ordered a sham fight, in which they were to take 
part. In the course of their wars he got a scratch 
on the arm from a sword, but said nothing about it 
till the fight was over, when he asked whether there 
was a surgeon at hand. On July 24 he was present 
at a " chapter " or meeting of the Knights of the 




CAMPDEN HOUSE. 

Garter, and sat down with the grown men who were 
his companions at the great banquet of the day. 
Not long afterwards, when a plot for the murder 
of the King had been discovered, the Duke sent 
him an address, in which he declared that he was 
his Majesty's most dutiful subject, and had rather 
lose his life in his Majesty's cause than in any one 
else's. 



540 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

His eleventh birthday was kept with much re- 
joicing. He reviewed his boy regiment, had a great 
exhibition of cannon and fireworks, and sat at the 
head of the table at a grand banquet. The next 
day he complained of sickness, headache, and sore 
throat. The family doctor was called in, and, after 
the common fashion of the day, bled him. This 
naturally did him more harm than good. Dr. Rad- 
cliffe, who had the reputation of being the most 
skilful physician of the age, was sent for in haste. 
When he came, he pronounced the boy to be suffer- 
ing from scarlet fever, and asked who had bled him. 
The doctor in attendance owned that it had been 
done by his orders. " Then," said Dr. Radcliffe, 
"you have destroyed him, and you may finish him, 
for I will not prescribe." On July 30, 1700, five 
days after his birthday, the Duke died. 

Queen Anne herself is not so interesting a person 
as her little son. Great events happened in her reign, 
and there never was a time in English history more 
distinguished for great men, soldiers, statesmen, and 
writers. But she herself had no greatness about her. 
She was weak and fickle, ruled first by one favourite, 
then by another. In the early part of her reign it 
was the wife of the Duke of Marlborough that was 
in power, so to speak. The two used to write to 
each other under the names of Mrs. Morley (the 



GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 541 

Queen) and Mrs. Freeman (the Duchess). But the 
Duchess was a very haughty and self-willed person, 
and in the end the Queen tired of her. After many 
angry letters and conversations, a final quarrel took 
place, and the Queen's favour was transferred to 
Lady Masham, who had once, as Abigail Hill, held 
a quite humble post in the household. There was, 
indeed, something political as well as much that 
was personal in these changes. The Duchess of 
Marlborough was on the side of the Whigs, Lady 
Masham on the side of the Tories. 

Why she has been called Good Queen Anne it is 
not very difficult to. see. As long as King William 
lived, she had the advantage of being compared with 
him. William was a remarkably cold, ungracious 
person, unlucky as a soldier, and getting little credit 
even for his good qualities. Anne, who was always 
kindly and good-humoured, was popular by contrast. 
And then, as has been said, she had the good fortune 
to be served by great men. William scarcely ever 
won a victory, though he was both skilful and brave ; 
Anne had not a little of Marlborough's glory reflected 
upon her. She was disposed to be generous, though 
indeed real generosity is not easy for a person who has 
never any occasion to deny herself. Still, she was ready 
to give away, and did not care either to save money 
or spend it upon herself. Her allowance as Queen 



542 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

was smaller than that enjoyed by any Sovereign 
either before or after. Her name is preserved by 
what is called Queen Anne's Bounty. In the second 
year of her reign she gave certain sums of money, 
which used to be part of the revenue of the Crown, 
to be used for increasing small livings of the Church 
of England. It may, of course, be said that in this 
she was scarcely giving away money of her own ; 
still, it was a kindly thought that prompted the 
act, and when she did it she was moved by the 
belief that she was helping the Church. 

She and her sister have been greatly blamed for 
their conduct to their father. King James. They 
were, it has been said, most undutiful children. Yet 
it is difficult to say how they could have acted other- 
wise than they did. They could not refuse to reign 
when the country demanded that they should, and 
if their father was banished for his misdeeds, that 
was not their fault. 



THE =15. 543 



CHAPTER XL 

THE '15. 

The word "Jacobites " means " friends or followers 
of James." Many people thought that the Stuart 
family ought not to have been driven from the throne. 
They believed that a king had the right to reign 
whatever he might do, or whatever he might be. 
These were the real Jacobites. Then there were many 
who were ready to help them because for various 
reasons it suited them to do so. There were the 
Roman Catholics, for instance, who wanted to have a 
king of their own way of thinking. There were, again, 
the Scotch Highlanders, who did not like being under 
the rule of any but their own chiefs, and hoped, 
besides, to get something for themselves by a war, the 
country which they were going to invade being much 
richer than their own. And there were some people 
who, being very badly off, hoped to get some profit 
out of a change of Government. Some even of the 
great nobles who had had much to do with driving 
the Stuarts out of the kingdom, began to consider 



544 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

whether it would not be well to have them back again. 
They did not get as much as they wanted, or thought 
they ought to have, from the new King. Perhaps if 
they brought back the old one, he might give them 
more. 

In the year 1700 Parliament passed what was 
called the "Act of Settlement." On July 30 the 
young Duke of Gloucester died, and there was then 
no one to come after Queen Anne. Accordingly it 
was settled by this Act that if, as seemed likely, the 
Queen should leave no children, the throne should go 
to the family of Sophia, wife of the Elector of 
Hanover. This lady was the daughter of Elizabeth, 
who, again, was the daughter of King James I. 
There were other persons who had a better right to 
succeed — the Duchess of Savoy, for instance, who was 
a grand-daughter of Charles I. ; but the choice was a 
good one, one great reason being that the family were 
Protestants. But during the latter years of Queen 
Anne's reign, the Jacobites were very busy trying to 
set this arrangement aside. The Queen disliked the 
Hanover family very much, and would have been 
pleased that her brother should succeed her, anyhow 
if he would consent to become a Protestant.^ If she 

^ Anne was the daughter of James II. by his first wife, Anne 
Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon ; James Edward, commonly 
called " The Old Pretender," and the " Chevalier St. George," 



THE 'IS. 545 

had lived longer, the Jacobites might have succeeded, 
but she died rather suddenly, and the Elector of 
Hanover, son of the Electress Sophia, was pro- 
claimed King, with the title of George I., without any 
opposition. 

Still, there were many people in the country who 
did not like the idea of having a German king, 
one, too, who could not speak a word of English, and 
the Jacobites were not willing to let the opportunity 
pass without trying to bring about a change. 

The Queen had died on August i, 17 14. Some 
of the friends of the Stuarts were for proclaiming the 
Chevalier St. George as James III., but no one had 
the courage to do so, and for a time it seemed as 
if nothing would be done. But on August 2, 171 5, 
the Earl of Mar, who the day before had congratu- 
lated King George on the anniversary of his succession, 
left London to raise an insurrection in the Highlands. 
A few friends went with him. They were disguised 
as sailors, and pretended to be part of the crew of 
a small collier. In about a fortnight's time he 
reached his house in Aberdeenshire, and from there 
sent out invitations for what was called a great 

was his son by his second wife, Mary of Modena. James died 
in 1 70 1. His death was a great advantage to the Jacobites, 
for he had been very unpopular, while nothing was known 
against his son. 

N N 



546 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

hunting party, but was really a council of war. A 
number of Highland noblemen and gentlemen at- 
tended, and promised to raise all the troops they 
could collect. On September 6 Lord Mar raised the 
standard of " King James, Eighth of Scotland and 
Third of England," at the village of Kirkmichael. No 
more than sixty men were present, and these were 
much disturbed to see the gold ball at the top of the 
standard fall off. But this small band soon increased. 
Clan after clan joined it, and before the end of the 
month nearly all the country north of the Tay had 
risen for King James. 

In the south of England, the Jacobites could do 
nothing at all. The Government put the chief men 
belonging to the party in prison, and so frightened 
the others that when the Duke of Ormond, who was 
to lead the insurrection in that part of the country, 
came over, he did not find a single person to join 
him. But in the north, where their party was much 
stronger, they rose, with a gentleman of Northumber- 
land of the name of Forster for their leader. They 
were joined before long by a party from the south- 
west of Scotland, led by Lord Kenmure, and afterwards 
by two thousand men under a certain Brigadier 
Macintosh. Macintosh had been sent by Lord Mar 
to seize Edinburgh. This he was not able to do. 
Accordingly he marched south, crossed the Border 



THE 'IS. 547 

into England, and joined his forces with those led by 
Mr. Forster and Lord Kenmure. It was but a small 
army, scarcely more than two thousand men in all. 
It defeated, however, almost without having to strike 
a blow, a hasty levy of ten thousand men, with which 
the Bishop of Carlisle and Lord Lonsdale sought to 
stop their advance. This was at Penrith. The army 
then advanced into Lancashire, where its numbers 
were greatly increased. The new-comers, however, 
were but poorly armed, some of them having neither 
swords nor muskets, but only pitchforks and scythes. 

The end of this expedition was very inglorious 
indeed. The Jacobites took up their position at 
Preston, and if they had been under a capable leader, 
they might have made a long resistance. But Mr. 
Forster, who was in command, seems to have had no 
skill in war, and no courage. He did nothing to 
defend the approaches to Preston, especially the 
bridge over the Ribble. This was so important that 
when the English general saw that it was not occu- 
pied, he felt quite sure that the Jacobites must have 
left the town. Even then the place was not easily 
taken. The English troops — there were not more 
than a thousand of them — attacked it, but were 
beaten back. In spite of this success, Forster in- 
sisted on treating for surrender. The next day the 
army laid down their arms. Many had taken the 



548 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Opportunity of escaping, but 1400 prisoners gave 
themselves up. This took place on November 13. 

On the very same day the insurrectionN in Scotland 
also came to an end, though this end was not quite so 
discreditable. The English Government had given 
the command here to the Duke of Argyll, chief of 
the powerful clan of the Campbells, and a man of 
great ability. Lord Mar, on the contrary, was about 
as poor a general as Mr. Forster. He stopped in 
Perth doing nothing ; whereas, if he had only bestirred 
himself, he might, it is possible, have gained over the 
whole of Scotland. At length, on November 10, he 
marched southward. More men joined him as he 
went, till he had about ten thousand in all, but they 
were a very mixed and rough multitude, ill-armed, and 
with little or no discipline. The Duke of Argyll, on 
the other hand, had between three and four thousand 
men, but they were all regular troops. The two 
armies met on a tract of open country, near Dumb- 
lane, known by the name of Sheriffmuir. 

The Duke of Argyll was on the right wing o^ the 
loyal army. The enemy opposite supposed them- 
selves to be protected by a marsh that lay between the 
two armies, but the Duke reckoned that the ground 
would -be hardened by the frost that had happened 
in the night, and sent some of his cavalry across it. 
He followed with the rest, and charged the Jacobites 



THE '15. 549 

SO fiercely as to break their line. They gave wa};, and 
were forced back to the river Allan, which was three 
miles in their rear ; many were drowned in attempt- 
ing to cross the stream. This part of the Jacobite 
army was nearly destro}'ed. 

Meanwhile things had been going very differently 
on the other side of the field. The Highlanders 
under Lord Mar, enraged by the death of the Chief of 
Clanronald, who had fallen by the first volley fired 
from the English ranks, made a furious charge. They 
thrust aside the soldiers' bayonets with their targets 
or shields, struck fiercely with their broadswords, and 
in a few minutes completely routed the English 
left wing. The English general fled from the field 
as fast as he could gallop, and did not stop till he 
found himself in Stirling. If the victorious High- 
landers had followed up their success, they might 
have gained a complete victory. But there were 
divisions among them. What remained of the centre 
and left of the English army was able to join the 
Duke. Even then, as Argyll was leading his troops 
in view of the rebel army, they might have been 
scattered by a single charge. But Mar did nothing, 
and even retreated. The Duke, on the other hand, 
remained on the field of battle, and had some reason 
to claim the victory. 

But whoever it was that won or lost this battle. 



550 



STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



there was no more fighting. The Pretender himself, 
it is true, landed in Scotland on December 22. He 
bestowed some honours on his followers, named a 
council, issued some proclamations, and fixed a day 
for his coronation. But his cause was really hopeless. 
It had been expected by his followers that he would 
bring an army with him. But he came almost alone. 
Louis XIV., who had promised to help him, had died 
a few months before, and the French Government was 







THE TOWER OF LONDON. 



not now friendly to him. He had himself expected 
to find a great number of men ready to follow him, and 
he saw only a few hundreds. It was clearly useless 
to do anything more. On February 4 he left Scot- 
land. A few days afterwards, what was left of the 
army dispersed. The leaders and oflRcers fled from 
the country — Lord Mar had gone with the Pretender — 
the soldiers returned to their own homes. 

The English Government did not behave with any 
great severity to its prisoners. The most important 



THE '45- 551 

of these were the noblemen who had surrendered at 
Preston. Six of these pleaded guilty. Of the six, 
three were reprieved ; two, the Earls of Derwentwater 
and Kenmure, were executed, and one, Lord Nithis- 
dale, escaped from the Tower of London, through the 
courage of his wife. This lady had tried in vain all 
possible means of obtaining mercy for her husband. 
On the evening before the day appointed for his 
execution, she visited his cell, taking two women 
with her, to bid good-bye, as was supposed, to the 
condemned man. One of them had upon her a second 
set of clothes. In these the Earl was dressed ; his 
face and hair were disguised ; and he passed out 
unsuspected by the guard. 

Of the other insurgents but few were executed, and 
among these were certain half-pay officers, who were 
considered, not without reason, to be specially guilty. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE '45. 

In the '15, the Prince for whom the Jacobites 
risked or lost their lives and property did not show 
himself till all the fighting was over. I am now going 



552 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to tell the story of the '45 ; we shall see that things 
were very different. It was the Prince who began 
the insurrection ; if he had not come, it never would 
have been made. 

I must first say who this Prince was. In 17 19 the 
" Old Pretender," of whom you heard in the last 
chapter, married Clementina Sobieski, daughter of 
the King of Poland. In 1721 a son was born, 
who was named Charles Edward, and is commonly 
known as the " Young Pretender." It was he who 
was the hero of the '45. 

On July 13 he set sail from Pelle Isle, which 
is in the north of the Bay of Biscay. He had 
with him two French ships of war; the larger, the 
Elizabeth^ carried the stores which he^ had been 
able to collect ; in the smaller, La Doiitelle, he him- 
self sailed with a few companions. On their way 
they fell in with a British man-of-war, the Lion. 
A fierce fight took place between the Elizabeth 
and the Lion, in which both ships were so much 
injured that they had to put back into harbour. La 
Dontelle took no part in the fight, though the Prince 
was anxious to do so. Accordingly he was able to 
proceed on his voyage, but his stores were left behind 
in the ElizabetJi. On July 27 he landed on a small 
island among the Hebrides. At first he found the 
chiefs anything but eager to take up arms, for 



THE '45- 553 

they thought that there was but Httle chance of 
success. 

]kit the Prince persuaded many who began by 




THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 



refusing to join him. He was a tall and handsome 
young man, who charmed every one that came near 
him. One of the most powerful chiefs in the High- 



554 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

lands, Cameron of Lochiel, felt quite sure the attempt 
must fail. The Prince sent for him. On his way he 
saw his brother, and told him where he was going, 
and what he should say. " Don't go," said the brother, 
" write to him. I know you better than you know 
yourself. If this Prince once sets eyes upon you, he 
will make you do whatever he pleases." And so it 
was. For some time Lochiel stood firm. But when 
the Prince, after a long argument, finished by 
saying, " Charles Stuart is come over to claim the 
crown of his ancestors or perish in the attempt ; 
Lochiel, who, my father has often told me, was our 
firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from the 
newspapers the fate of his Prince," he gave way and 
promised his help. If Lochiel had stood firm, there 
would have been no war. 

On August 1 6 the first fighting took place. Two 
companies of soldiers on their way to P'ort William 
were taken prisoners. Two days afterwards the 
Royal standard was raised at Glenfinnan. Men 
continued to flock in from various Highland clans. 
When the Prince set out on the following day on his 
march southward he had 1600 men with him. 

On August 16 General Cope, who was in com- 
mand of the English troops, s^t out from Edinburgh, 
intending to march to Eort Augustus. He had got 
as far as Dalwhinnie, which is about fifty miles 



THE '45- 555 

north of Perth, when he heard that the Highlanders 
had occupied a strong pass between that place and 
the Fort. He then gave up his plan, and marched to 
Inverness. The Prince, finding that there was no one 
to hinder him, marched south. As he went on, chiefs 
and nobles continued to join him, nor did he meet 
any resistance, except a few cannon shot which were 
fired from Stirling Castle. On September 14 he was 
only a few miles from Edinburgh. This city was 
really without defence. The walls were scarcely 
higher or stronger than a common garden wall, and 
had no cannon mounted on them ; there were no 
regular troops, except some dragoons, and these soon 
showed that they could not be trusted. General 
Cope's army was, it is true, on its way back ; but it was 
doubted whether it could arrive in time. While the 
magistrates were debating whether they should resist 
or surrender, Lochiel with his Camerons made his 
way within the walls without having to strike a blow. 
Thus, on September 1 7, the Prince became possessed 
of Edinburgh. At noon James VHI. was proclaimed 
king at the Cross, and shortly after the Prince took 
possession of Holyrood Palace. Only the Castle still 
remained in the power of the English Government. 

On the same day that the Prince entered Edinburgh 
General Cope landed his army at Dunbar. The next 
day he marched northward ; the Prince, on the other 



556 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

hand, marched southward, and on September 20 
the two armies met. They were nearly equal in 
number, about 2500 on each side, but Cope's troops 
were better armed, and had six cannon. The High- 
landers had no cannon, and many of the men were 
without fire-arms. 

The battle lasted but a few minutes. The High- 
landers shouted, each clan its own war-cry, and ran 
furiously forward. They came first to the cannon. 
The sailors who served them fled without waiting 
to be attacked. Colonel Gardiner, w^ho commanded 
the dragoons on the left wing, led them to the 
charge, but they would not follow him. As soon as 
the Highlanders drew their broadswords and came 
on, the men turned and fled. Very much the 
same thing happened with the other regiment of 
dragoons on the other wing. So the infantry was left 
without either guns or cavalry to support them. 
They stood firm for awhile, and fired a volley on the 
enemy. But the Highlanders rushed upon them, 
thrust aside their bayonets with their targets, and 
broke up their line. The» dragoons for the most part 
got away, for there was no cavalr}^ to follow them, 
but of the infantry nearly all were killed or taken 
prisoners. The Highlanders lost about a hundred 
men in killed and wounded. Such was the battle of 
Prcstonpans or Gladsmuir. 



THE '45. 557 

Some of his friends now advised the Prince to 
march without delay into England, and even make his 
way to London ; but most of them were against this 
plan. If he would wait awhile, they said, great 
numbers more would join him. As it was, he had 
fewer soldiers with him than he had before the battle, 
for many of the Highlanders had gone back to their 
homes in the mountains with the plunder which they 
had collected. Indeed, at one time, he had no more 
than 1500 men left. Nevertheless, it might have 
been better for him if he had hurried on at once. 

It was quite true, however, that great numbers were 
ready to join him. Every day recruits flocked in 
both from the Highlands and the Lowlands. In the 
course of a few weeks as many as 6000 men were 
collected. The officers did their best to drill them, 
and give them proper arms, but it was impossible to 
make them into a regular army. 

The great question now was — what was to be done } 
Should they stop in Scotland, or advance into Eng- 
land .'' The Prince was for advancing. If he was to 
keep Scotland he must conquer England. And, 
beyond all doubt, he was quite right. But most of 
his advisers did not think so. What they hoped to 
see was a Scottish kingdom under a Stuart king, and 
they were altogether against any attempt upon Eng- 
land. But the Prince was determined to go. " I see, 



558 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

gentlemen, you are determined to stay in Scotland 
and defend your country, but I am not less resolved 
to try my fate in England, though I should go alone." 
Then the chiefs gave way. On October 31 the 
Prince left Edinburgh. Eight days later the army 
crossed the Border. The Highlanders gave a great 
shout as they passed into England, but it was thought 
to be a very unlucky sign that Lochiel, in drawing his 
broadsword, cut his hand. Carlisle was besieged and 
taken with very little loss, one Highlander being killed 
and another wounded. The Prince entered Carlisle 
on November 17. Again there was the question 
whether he should return to Scotland or proceed 
further into England. The Prince was determined to 
go on, but many of his men left him. When he 
reached Penrith only 4500 of his 6000 remained.^ 
Everywhere as he passed he found the people curious 
to see him, and even ready to cheer. But there were 
very few willing to help. At Manchester, two or three 
hundred men enlisted ; but, on the whole, Lancashire 
was far less zealous for the cause than it had been 
thirty years before. There were, indeed, some zealous 
friends. One old lady, who had been held up in her 
mother's arms eighty-five years before to see Charles 
n. land at Dover, and who had always devoted half 
her income to the cause, sold all her jewels and 
^ He had left a srarrison of 200 in Carlisle. 



THE '45. 559 

brought the price to the Prince, saying, as she kissed 
his hand, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart 
in peace." But the people cared Httle for King James, 
though probably they cared no more for King 
George. 

Still the Prince went on, and on December 11 
entered Derby. But he went no further. There had 
been no rising of the English people in his favour, nor 
had a French army been landed to give him help, 
and his councillors declared that there was nothing left 
but to go back to Scotland. They had good reasons to 
give for their advice. The Prince had but 5000 men 
with him, and the forces of the English Government 
were at least six times as numerous. And then all 
his hopes of help had been disappointed. Yet it is 
quite certain that the Prince, who was still eager to go 
on, was right. And, indeed, London, which was only 
one hundred and twenty-seven miles distant, was in 
a great fright. The shops were shut, the banks were 
thronged by people drawing out all their money, and 
King George himself, it is said, put his most valuable 
property on shipboard. The day on which the news 
came that the Pretender was at Derby, and that there 
was no army between him and London, was long 
remembered as Black Friday. 

But the experiment of advancing was, happily, not 
tried. " Happily," I say, because if it had succeeded, it 



56o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

must have ended in a long civil war, for it is impossible 
to suppose that PZngland would have been content 
to let the Stuarts rule again. Much against his will, 
the Prince consented to retreat. On December 20 his 
army crossed the Border again. Six days later it 
reached Glasgow. By this time it had dwindled down 
to just over 4000 men. But now it was increased 
again. Various nobles and chiefs had raised bodies of 
troops, and these all joined the Prince. When he 
reached Stirling he had as many as 9000 men. 

The general in command of the English army was 
the Duke of Cumberland, the second son of King 
George II. But he had been called away to take 
charge of the forces on the south coast of England, 
which the French were preparing to invade. He 
appointed a certain General Hawley to act for him, 
and Hawley had marched to attack the Prince at 
Stirling. He halted at Falkirk, which is about ten 
miles to the south. There a battle was fought, and 
lost by the English, partly through the folly and 
neglect of their general. He despised his adversaries 
as being nothing better than an ill-armed mob, and 
was actually absent from his place when the battle 
began. The dragoons again behaved badly. They 
were ordered to charge the right wing of the enemy. 
But the Macdonalds who stood over against them 
kept back their fire till the horsemen were near them. 



THE '45. 561 

and then sent among them a destructive volley. Two 
of the regiments broke at once ; the third stood firm 
for a while, but were soon compelled to retreat. Then 
the Macdonalds charged and fell on the flank of the 
infantry in the centre of the line, which was being 
attacked at the same time in front. The soldiers had 
been tired early in the day, by having to march 
through a storm of wind and rain, and were now 
numbed with standing still. They had little courage 
left, and, like the cavalry, turned to fly. The Prince's 
left wing had not done nearly so well ; the English 
here were sheltered by some rough ground, and the 
Highlanders' attack was repulsed. Yet here, too, the 
English were forced to retreat. They could not stand 
their ground alone. 

The conquerors did not make the best of their 
victory. If they had, they might have almost 
destroyed the defeated army. But they did not fully 
know what had happened, and besides, the light 
failed them. At that time of the year — the 
battle of Falkirk 1 was fought on January 17 — 
the days are very short, and it is very dangerous, 
especially with untrained troops, to move in the dark. 
As it was, General Hawley lost 400 men killed, 100 
prisoners, and all his artillery, ammunition, and 

^ In the latitude of Falkirk (56^), the sun sets little later than 
three o'clock. The battle did not begin till two o'clock. 

o o 



562 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR Y. 

baggage, and was also compelled to burn his tents, 
lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy. 
The Prince, however, got little real advantage from his 
victory. His officers quarrelled, blaming each other 
that the English had not been more vigorously pursued, 
and many of the Highlanders hurried home with their 
plunder. An unlucky accident that happened on the 
day after the battle also did him much harm. A gun 
which one of the Macdonalds was examining, went off 
and killed a son of Glengarry, who happened to be 
passing. The Glengarry clan insisted upon the man 
being put to death. Nor were they satisfied with this, 
for the greater part left the army and returned home. 
Not long after, the Prince was again compelled by his 
counsellors to retreat. On February i the army left 
Stirling, having first spiked the heavy guns and 
blown up the powder magazine. On the i8th of the 
month it reached Inverness. Here it was quartered 
for some eight weeks, growing weaker and weaker 
every day. The Prince could neither pay nor feed 
his army. The country about Inverness was so poor 
that he could get little from it, and most of the 
supplies which should have reached him by sea were 
captured by British ships. It was only to be expected 
that men who had neither food nor money to buy it 
with should grow tired of the service. By April 1 5 
— on this day each man received nothing but a single 



THE '45. 563 

biscuit — the 9000 men whom the Prince had with 
him at Stirling had dwindled down to 5000. The 
English army under the Duke of Cumberland was 
nearly twice as numerous, consisting of 8000 infantry 
and 900 cavalry. 

The Prince and his advisers planned a night attack 
on the Duke's army. It failed ; the troops started too 
late, many of them having straggled away in search of 
food, and moved too slowly, so that it was nearly 
dawn when they reached the English camp. They 
fell back, and took up the position which they had 
held before on Culloden Moor, otherwise Drummossie, 
tired by their useless march, and, as usual, hungry. 
The best officers in the army were for withdrawing 
to a stronger position, where the Duke would have 
to begin the attack, but the Prince had a strange 
idea that he was bound to fight where the ground 
gave no advantage to either side. Everything was 
against him, even the order of battle, for the 
Macdonalds were put on the left wing, and were so 
offended by the slight, as they thought it, that at a 
critical moment of the battle they refused to advance. 

The battle began with a cannonade. This was also 
in favour of the English, whose guns were served by 
men that knew their business. Then the Highlanders 
of the right and centre charged. At first they did 
again what they had done before at Prcstonpans and 



564 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

at Falkirk, and broke the enemy's line. But the Duke 
had provided for this chance. Behind the first line 
was a second, three deep, the first rank kneeling, the 
second bending forward, the third standing upright. 
The line kept back its fire till the Highlanders were 
close, and then poured a heavy volley into them. 
Like other soldiers whose first charge is almost 
irresistible, they had little spirit left for a second. 
This part of the Prince's army was broken. On the 
left, as has been said, the Macdonalds refused to fight. 
Their chief advanced, but they would not follow him ; 
they were not moved even when they saw him fall. 

One more chance was left. If the Prince had 
charged with all that remained of his army, he might 
have even then changed the fortune of the day. He 
had often said that he would either conquer or die, 
and now was the time to keep his word. That he did 
not do so is certain ; but it is not easy to say whether 
he was right or wrong. We do not even know for certain 
what he did. According to one account he was urged 
to charge and refused ; according to another he was 
forced against his will from the field by two officers, 
who laid hold of his horse's bridle, exactly as his great- 
grandfather had been a hundred years before on the 
fatal field at Naseby.^ 

I must now bring this chapter to an end. I am glad 

^ See p. 436. 



PLASSE y. 565 

to say nothing about the cruelty with which the 
Duke of Cumberland used his victory, and I must 
leave you to read elsewhere the romantic story of how 
the Prince escaped. Now hiding, now wandering 
about in disguise among the islands off the western 
coast, or on the mainland, he continued to avoid his 
pursuers for nearly half-a-year. Many helped him, 
some of them persons who did not favour his cause, 
but two must be specially mentioned. Flora Mac- 
donald, of South Uist, and Macdonald of Kingsburgh. 
At length, on September 20, 1746, he embarked at 
the very spot where he had landed fourteen months 
before, and escaped to France. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PLASSEY. 



In the year 1600 Queen Elizabeth gave a charter 
to a Company of Merchants under the title of " The 
Governor and Company of Merchants of London 
trading to the East Indies." For some time the East 
India Company, as it came to be called, was a very 
humble affair. It built, by leave of the native rulers 



566 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of India, factories or places for trade. But these 
were never safe from attack, either from the natives 
or from European rivals. The Dutch, for instance, 
in 1623 destroyed the factory of Amboyna, and 
murdered all its inhabitants. Nevertheless, the Com- 
pany's power and wealth gradually increased. A 
factory was founded on the Hoogly river in 1642. 
This is now Calcutta. In 1661 Bombay was handed 
over to England as part of the dowry of the 
Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, who 
became in that year the wife of Charles II. Madras, 
the chief city of the third of the three great divisions 
or presidencies, as they are called, was bought from 
an Indian Rajah or Prince for a yearly payment 
of ;^500. 

In .1743 one Robert Clive received an appointment 
as " writer," £ ^. clerk in the East India Company's 
factory at Madras. He was certainly not a good clerk; 
the work was not of a kind that he liked, and he 
neglected it, and he gave much trouble to his superiors. 
In 1747 he ceased to be a clerk and became a soldier. 
As a soldier he was to do his country such services 
as have never been surpassed. Many able statesmen 
and brave and skilful soldiers have helped to build up 
our great Indian Empire, but no one of them did 
more than Robert Clive, and very few did as much. 

A Frenchman, Dupleix by name, had conceived 



PLASSEY. 567 

the idea of gaining India for France. To do this he 
had to conquer or persuade the Indian rulers, and 
also to drive out the English. For a time his plans 
seemed to prosper, but it was Clive who hindered 
them from being accomplished. He persuaded the 
Governor of Madras to allow him to occupy the fort 
of Arcot. The place seemed hardly capable of 
standing a siege. The walls were low, the towers 
upon it ruinous, the ditch half filled up. Clive did 
his best to strengthen these defences. Though he 
lost four of the eight officers who were serving under 
him, and though his garrison was at last reduced to 
200 native troops^ and 120 Europeans, he contrived 
to hold out for fifty days against an army of 10,000 
men. The siege was raised, other victories were won, 
Dupleix was recalled to France, and the natives began 
to look to the English rather than to the French as 
the nation that could not be conquered. 

This was in 175 1. Five years later a terrible thing 
happened in another part of India. The Nawab of 
Bengal, Suraj-ud-Dowlah by name, picked a quarrel 
with the English at Calcutta, seized the town, and 
compelled the fort to surrender. The prisoners, one 
hundred and forty-six in number, were thrust into 
a chamber about twenty feet each way, afterwards 

* Called " Sepoys." Sipah is a Persian word meaning 
"army," hence sipahi^ a soldier, a sepoy. 



568 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

known as the Black Hole. After a night of dreadful 
suffering from suffocation and thirst, only twenty- 
three were found alive next morning. The Govern- 
ment of Madras at once sent Clive to punish the 
Nawab for his wrong-doing, and to recover Calcutta. 
Calcutta he recovered without any difficulty, and 
won other victories so speedily, that the Nawab was 
compelled to ask for peace, and to give back to 
the English all that they had ever held in Bengal. 
But no sooner had the treaty been signed than the 
Nawab began to negotiate with the French. Clive 
saw at once what had to be done. The French 
would attempt in Bengal what Dupleix had attempted 
in Madras, and they must be stopped at all hazards. 
He began by seizing the French settlement of Chan- 
dernagore. This was an illegal act, for though 
France and England were at war, Chandernagore 
nominally belonged to the Nawab, and could not be 
taken without his permission. Nevertheless, Clive did 
it. He then made friends with two of the Nawab's 
most powerful subjects. One, Meer Jafifier by name, 
was to succeed the Nawab ; the other, Omichund, was 
to be rewarded by a large sum of money. 

The Nawab had collected an army of 50,000 men. 
Clive had 3000, of whom less than 1000 were 
English. The question was — should they fight } 
Meer Jafifier had promised to desert his master, but 







-■■c^^: 



PLASSEY. 571 

he might not keep his promise; he certainly would 
not unless Ciive could make him feel sure that the 
English were going to win the day. A council of 
war was held. The majority was against fighting, 
and Clive, strange to say, was one of the majority. 
But a commander can always overrule the de- 
cision of a council, and Clive had to consider again 
what was to be done. He retired into a clump of 
trees, and there thought the matter out, with this 
result — that he determined to fight. The next morn- 
ing he crossed the river, and marching during the 
day, found himself at night-fall within reach of the 
enemy's army. 

The next day, June 23, the Nawab drew up his 
forces in order of battle. Clive's army was in front 
of a mango grove. He had one regiment, the 
39th.^ This he put in the centre, the native troops 
and the few small guns that he had being on either 
side. Cavalry he had none. The Nawab had 
12,000, 36,000 infantry, and a number of heavy guns, 
some of them served by French artillerymen. The 
Nawab's guns opened fire with such effect that Clive 
had to withdraw into the mango grove, which was 
protected by mud-banks all round it. Here he in- 
tended to wait. At night he would attack the enemy's 

^ Now known as the Dorsetshire Regiment, and bearing, in 
memory of this victory, the motto Primus in hidis. 



572 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

camp. While he waited a heavy storm of rain came 
on, and so spoilt the enemy's powder that the cannon- 
ade was almost stopped. The commander of the 
Nawab's cavalry, Meer Mudin, thinking that the 
English guns also were disabled, advanced to attack 
Clive's position. But the guns had been under cover, 
and fired a discharge of grape shot which drove the 
enemy back in confusion, Meer Mudin himself being 
killed. The Nawab, dismayed at this reverse, ordered 
his army to retreat into the camp, and himself fled 
from the field. Clive now advanced with his whole 
force. The French artillerymen offered a brave 
resistance, but there was no one to support them. 
As for the Nawab's infantry, they fled almost without 
waiting for a blow. The Nawab had deserted his 
army early in the day, and the rest of their leaders 
followed the example of their chief. Clive won the 
battle, and with it a vast extent of territory, at a cost 
of less than a hundred in killed and wounded. This 
was the first great victory of Plassey. 



QUEBEC, 573 



CHAPTER XIV. 

QUEBEC. 

James Wolfe was the son of a soldier who had 
fought under Marlborough, and set his mind from his 
earliest days on being a soldier himself. In 1740, when 
he was only thirteen, he volunteered to join the ex- 
pedition to Cartagena. Luckily, something prevented 
him from going, for the affair was a terrible failure, 
and many who went never came back. Two years 
afterwards, at an age when it is a rare thing for a boy 
to be in the head form of a public school, he received a 
commission, and carried the colours of his regiment 
when the King reviewed the troops at Blackheath. 
The following year (June 27) he fought at Dettingen, 
the last battle in which an English king actually led 
his troops. He not only fought, but distinguished 
himself, for in default of any older officer to take the 
place, he had to act as adjutant. After the battle, he 
was made lieutenant and adjutant, and the year fol- 
lowing was promoted to be captain. Four years more 
saw him a major — he had been present meanwhile 



574 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

at Falkirk and Culloden — and his regiment had the 
reputation of being the best drilled in the army. 

From 1748 (the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle) to 1756 
there was, in name at least, peace between England 
and France. But in North America the French and 
English settlers were at war. In 1755 George Wash- 
ington, of whom I shall have to say much in the 
next chapter, fought a mixed force of Indians and 
French on the Ohio. The same year, General Brad- 
dock led some troops into the backwoods. Braddock, 
never a good soldier, was particularly unfit to com- 
mand in such an expedition. He was surprised and 
routed. Two-thirds of his troops were killed or taken. 
With Braddock was a company of Wolfe's own regi- 
ment, the 20th. Happily he was not with it. He was 
reserved for greater things. 

Pitt had kept his eye on young Wolfe ever since 
the day when he had fought so well at Dettingen. 
When war was declared with France (May i, 1756) 
he remembered him as an officer who might do 
good service. The first attempt to strike was a 
failure. An expedition was sent against La Rochelle, 
but it did nothing. In this Wolfe held the post of 
Quartermaster-General. In the early part of the 
following year, he received a sudden summons to 
London. An army was to be sent to Cape Breton, 
and he was to be brigadier. The special object 



QUEBEC, 575 

which Wolfe had before him was the port of Louis- 
burg, then an important place. For some days the 
troops could not land, for the fog was thick, and the 
sea was rough. But on June 2 (1758) the boats were 
ordered out. Wolfe was the first man to leap ashore. 
After about two months of hard work, Wolfe being 






■ ^S^- Is^U^^ W 




--^5:^4; 



kmi^^- 



QUEBEC. 



all along the most active in pushing the siege, 
Louisburg surrendered. He had to go home on 
account of ill health, but he came out again early 
the next year. His object was now Quebec itself, the 
capital of French Canada. 

The first thing was to take the fleet safely up the 
St. Lawrence river. The navig-ation was difficult, and 



576 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to the English unknown. The device of hoisting 
flags that bore the French LiHes was practised. 
Canadian pilots hastened to offer their services, and 
found, when they were on board, that the Lilies were 
changed for the Cross of St. George. Doubtless they 
were made to understand that, though they were good 
subjects of the French king, they must not run the 
English ships aground. However this may be, the 
English fleet reached Quebec in safety, not a little to 
the surprise of the French. " They have brought 
forty ships of war," wrote one of the Quebec people, 
"where we should be afraid to take a vessel of a 
hundred tons." The presence of the fleet was of 
immense advantage to General Wolfe — he had the 
rank of general though he was really only a colonel. 
He could move hither and thither as he pleased — the 
enemy had no power to hinder him. Their fleet was 
much weaker, and what there was had been sent fur- 
ther up the river out of harm's way. One thing that 
Wolfe soon did was to set up some batteries on the 
bank opposite to Quebec. The St. Lawrence here is 
scarcely a mile broad. The English cannon soon laid 
a great part of the city in ruins. An attempt to 
destroy the batteries, made by a party of volunteers 
from the city, failed completely. Still, the governor 
of the city and the Marquis Montcalm (who was in 
command of the army encamped outside) had no fear 



QUEBEC, 577 

that the city might be taken. " The EngHsh," they 

said, "will not be mad enough to attempt it." And 

indeed it seemed quite impossible that the city should 

be taken. It stands on a narrow strip of land between 

the two rivers, St. Lawrence and Charles, and looks 

eastward down the St. Lawrence. Behind it, /. e. to 

the westward, is some high ground known as the 

Heights or Plains of Abraham. On the river side 

there are steep cliffs, which seem to be quite beyond 

all climbing. Yet it was in this way that Wolfe 

determined to approach the city. He made an 

attempt to take up a position lower down on the left 

bank of the St. Lawrence, but it failed. Then came 

three weeks of severe illness, and nothing was done. 

He was suffering from a deadly disease, but his spirit 

and courage were not in the least broken. " Give me 

a few days without pain," he said to his doctor. If 

he could only get to work, he felt that Quebec 

might be taken. And he took it. 

He had noticed, between two or three miles above 

the city, a place where the line of cliffs was broken. 

From this a path led up to the Plains of Abraham. 

If he could land his men here, and get them up 

to the top without hindrance, he felt that his work 

was done. He had fewer soldiers, it is true, than 

Montcalm, but they were all of the best quality. 

After dark on September 12, the army embarked 

p p 



57^ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

on some flat-bottomed boats and dropped quietly 
down the river on the ebb tide. Wolfe, as they 
went, repeated to his companions Gray's Elegy m a 
Country Churchyard (published eight years before), 
saying, when he had finished it, " I would rather 
be the author of that piece than take Quebec." The 
boats glided into the cove, and the troops landed 
without any hindrance. They made their way up the 
narrow path — so narrow that two men only could 
walk abreast — and reached the level ground at the top 
in safety. There was a small body of men on guard 
at the top, but a volley of musketry sent them flying. 
Wolfe had about 3500 men, for part of his 5000 had 
been left to guard the landing-place, and part was sent 
to guard against an attack from the rear. As soon as 
it was sufficiently light, this force was drawn up in 
line facing Quebec. Montcalm, who had heard the 
firing, rode in the direction of the Plains, saw the red 
coats of the English regiments, and at once made up 
his mind to fight. This was the only chance of saving 
the city. He had rather more than double the number 
of men, not counting the Indians. At ten o'clock, the 
French line advanced, somewhat unsteadily. Wolfe 
would not allow his troops to return the fire until the 
enemy were within forty yards. Then th~ey poured into 
the advancing line so heavy a volley as to break it at 
once. Without allowing the enemy time to re-form 



QUEBEC. 579 

their ranks, Wolfe led his men to the charge. A bullet 
struck him on the wrist, but he wrapped his handker- 
chief round it and pressed on. His uniform made 
him a conspicuous figure, and the Canadian riflemen, 
deadly shots, though not disciplined enough to stand 
steady under the shock of battle, made him their 
mark. A second bullet struck him in the groin. 
Even that could not stop him, but the third, hitting 
him in the breast, brought him to the ground. He 
was carried to the rear. When they asked whether 
a surgeon should be sent for, he said, *' No, it is all 
over with me." For a time he seemed to become 
unconscious. Then there was a cry, " They run ! 
They run ! " " Who run 1 " cried the dying man. 
"The enemy, sir," replied one of those about him. 
" They give way everywhere ! " Wolfe raised himself 
Faithful to his duty to the last, he did not forget 
that the victory must be made as complete as possible. 
" Go, one of you, back to Colonel Burton," he said ; 
"tell him to march Webb's regiment with all speed 
down to the river to cut off the retreat of the fugitives 
from the bridge.'' He then turned upon his side, and 
with the words *' Now God be praised I die in 
peace," he passed away. 

The loss of the British was ^y killed, and about 
seven times as many wounded. The French loss was 
500 killed or mortally wounded, and twice as many 



58o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

taken prisoners. The Marquis Montcalm died soon 
after, and on the i/th Quebec surrendered. France 
lost Canada at the battle of Quebec. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE LOST COLONIES. 



Wolfe's victory at Quebec won, as I have said, 
Canada for England, but it did something to lose 
possessions far more valuable, the Colonies between 
the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. Of these 
Colonies there were thirteen,^ founded at various times 
from 1622 to 1733. They were different in many 
ways, but in one thing they were agreed, and that was 
the fear of France. As long as they felt this fear, 
they could not help looking to England to protect 
them; when this was removed, they began to consider 
whether they should not do better if they stood alone. 
England was ready enough to protect them against 
any foreign enemy ; but, in return for this protection, 

^ Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, New 
York, New jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. 



THE LOST COLONIES. 581 

it desired to make all the gain it could out of them. 
It compelled them to buy various articles in England, 
laid duties on goods sent from one colony to another, 
and tax^d various things, such as printed books and 
the like, that were imported from England. Many of 
the taxes imposed were afterwards repealed, but a 
duty on tea was retained ; it was about tea that the 
final quarrel took place. The people of Boston in 
Massachusetts threw many thousand pounds' worth 
of it into the harbour sooner than allow duty to be 
paid upon it, and the English Parliament, to punish 
them, passed an Act by which it was forbidden to 
import any goods at all into Boston. This, of course, 
destroyed the trade of the town, and it was not long 
before there was war. 

The first fighting took place at Lexington, a village 
in Massachusetts, about fifteen miles from Boston. 
The Colonists had collected at Concord, undoubtedly 
in preparation for war, a quantity of arms and ammu- 
nition. The governor of Boston sent some troops 
to destroy these stores. On their way they found 
some militiamen assembled on Lexington Green. 
They fired a volley and dispersed them, and going 
into Concord destroyed the stores. On their way 
back they were fired upon by a number of riflemen, 
who lined the hedges, and lost many in killed and 
wounded. 



582 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

After Lexington came Bunker's Hill. This is one 
of two hills which are outside Boston, on the left 
bank of the River Charles. The other is called 
Breed Hill, and this it was that the Colonist occu- 
pied, though somehow the battle has got its name 
from the first. General Gage, who was in command 
of the English troops, determined to dislodge them. 
Everything was done in a very blundering way. The 
troops were landed in heavy marching order, though 
it was an exceedingly hot day (June 17, I775)» and 
with three days' provisions, which they were very 
unlikely to want. They were sent up to attack the 
hill, on which the Colonists had made a breastwork, 
at its very strongest point. They had to do with the 
bayonet what might have been done with far less loss 
and trouble by a cannonade from the ships. The fact 
was, that General Gage and the other officers in 
command did not believe that the enemy would 
offer any serious resistance. This was found to 
be a great mistake. Twice the soldiers were driven 
back. The third time, when reinforced by fresh 
troops, they took the breastwork, but the Colonists 
retreated to a neighbouring hill, which they en- 
trenched. The British loss was 22.6 killed, and 
nearly four times as many wounded and missing ; as 
the Colonists did not suffer half so much. Bunker's 
Hill was as good as a victory. Two days before the 




BRADDOCK S FORCE SURPRISED, 



THE LOST COLONIES. 585 

battle, the representatives of the Colonies had resolved 
to raise a regular army, and to put it under the com- 
mand of George Washington. In the winter of the 
year the Colonists endeavoured to seize Quebec, 
attacking it from the same Heights of Abraham on 
which Wolfe had won his great victory ; but the affair 
was ill-managed from beginning to end, and the 
Colonists were repulsed with heavy loss. They kept 
up a siege of the city, however, till May, when, some 
troops having arrived from England, they retreated, 
leaving behind them their guns, baggage, and stores. 

On July 4 in the following year (1776) the Colon- 
ists sent forth their famous Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, but for some time it seemed as if they had 
but a small chance of making good their claim to be 
free. The British army was transferred from Boston, 
where the population was altogether hostile to Eng- 
land, to New York, where it was mostly friendly. 
General Howe, who was now in command, took up a 
position on Slaten Island, which is below New York, 
and Washington sent a force of 10,000 men to Long 
Island, which is near to it. Howe began by attacking 
the Colonists, and inflicted on them a severe defeat. 
If he had followed up the pursuit, their whole force 
would probably have been destroyed. As it was, 
1000 were killed, and twice as many wounded or taken 
prisoners. The rest Washington was able to carry off, 



586 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and he was also able to save some of the guns. A 
little more than a fortnight afterwards Howe entered 
New York. The Colonists suffered loss after loss. 
On November 19 Washington was glad to escape 
into New Jersey. He had only 3000 men with him, 
and these were in a deplorable condition. The year, 
however, was not to end without some compensation. 
On Christmas night Washington attacked one of the 
British posts on the Delaware River, and captured 
900 Hessians. (The English Government, unable to 
find soldiers enough at home, had been driven to hire 
Germans from the Elector of Hesse.) 

In the year 1777 things went very differently for the 
Colonists. General Burgoyne started from Canada 
with some 5000 regular troops, and a number of 
provincials and Indians. Almost from the first every- 
thing went wrong with him. He divided his forces, 
though the enemy was near with superior numbers. 
He did not know the country well enough to take the 
best route ; and he could not keep his army properly 
fed. The provincials and the Indians took every 
chance of leaving him, and at last, not quite four 
months after leaving Canada, he found himself com- 
pelled to surrender. He had 3500 regular troops with 
him. The capitulation of Saratoga was a blow from 
which the British never recovered. 

On February 8, 1778, an alliance was made between 



THE LOST COLONIES, 587 

the States and France — many Frenchmen had ah'eady 
come over to fight as volunteers in the army of the 
Colonists — and shortly afterwards France declared 
war against England. Fortune, however, turned 
against the Colonists. Their French allies were of 
little use to them., and the British were better led by 
new generals. In December the town of Savannah, 
in Georgia, was taken. Things went on in much the 
same way in the year following. Washington, for 
want of men and money, had to sit still and do nothing. 
When the French tried in the autumn to retake 
Savannah, they failed disastrously. In 1780 Charles- 
ton in South Carolina was taken after a long siege. 

But the war was really hopeless, and in October 1781 
it practically came to an end with the capitulation of 
York-town, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered with 
an army of between six and seven thousand men. 
For two more years there were various negotiations 
both in America and in Europe. King George III. 
unwillingly gave his consent to the Independence of 
the American Colonies on December 5, 1782; but it 
was not for nearly a year after this (November 25, 
1783) that the British troops evacuated New York. 
England had spent nearly two hundred millions of 
money to no purpose. 



588 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 

One of the most valuable possessions of England 
is the great fortress of Gibraltar. It was taken from 
the Spaniards with very little trouble in 1704. Many 
attempts have been made to get it back again, for 
indeed it must vex the Spanish people to see it in our 
hands, as much as it would vex us to see the French 
in possession of the Isle of Portland. The great 
siege of which I am going to tell the story began in 
1779. In that year war broke out between England 
and Spain, and the Spaniards immediately blockaded 
Gibraltar. They sent a squadron to cut off any sup- 
plies that might come by sea, and they occupied the 
narrow strip of ground by which the fortress can be 
approached by land. Before long, food became scarce, 
for there were many people to be fed ; the population 
of the place, which is now about 18,000, may then have 
been half as large, and there was a garrison of 5000 
men. The Governor, Sir George Elliott, had been 



THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 589 

very careful with the stores/ but by the end of the 
year little was left, and many had to live on such 
things as thistles and wild leeks. In January 1780 
Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish fleet, and 
brought a large supply of provisions. But these were 
in time exhausted, and the scarcity became as bad as 
ever. Then, in April 1781, came another supply, and 
the besiegers began to see that, if they were ever to 
take the place, they must do something more than 
blockade it. They began a bombardment, which did 
a great deal of damage to the houses in the town, but 
did not cause much loss to the garrison. During six 
weeks more than fifty thousand shot and twenty thou- 
sand shells were fired into the town, but not more than 
twenty soldiers in all were killed. Then the Spaniards 
began to approach the fortress with trenches and other 
siege works. The governor, who had found out 
from a deserter what they v^ere doing, waited for 
an opportunity of attacking them. At midnight on 
November 26, a body of 2000 men sallied out. 
The besiegers were taken unawares and fled. In the 
course of an hour all the siege works were burnt, the 
guns spiked,^ and the stores of powder blown up. 

^ Soldiers used to powder their hair (with flour), when going on 
guard. This was forbidden. 

^ To " spike " a gun was to make it useless by driving an iron 
spike into the touch-hole by which the gun could be fired off. 
This was done when there was not time to carry the guns off. 



590 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

About half-a-year after this, the final attempt to 
take the place was made. The French and the 
Spaniards were now united. They had 33,000 men 
and 170 heavy guns. On the other hand, the British 
garrison consisted of 7000, all tried soldiers, full of 
spirit, and firmly resolved to stand by their brave 
commander. The great hope of the besiegers was in 
the floating batteries, which a French engineer had 
invented. It was hoped that they could be made so 
strong that no shot should make its way into them, 
and that it should be impossible to set them on fire. 
There were to be ten of these batteries, made out of 
the hulks of large ships. The tops were to be proof 
against shot and shell; the side nearest to the fort was 
strengthened with heavy timbers seven feet thick, and 
covered with raw hides. These batteries were moored 
with iron chains half a gun-shot from the shore. The 
besiegers hoped that when they had made a breach in 
the defences, the place could be carried by assault. 
They carried altogether 142 heavy cannon. 

Sir George Elliott, on the other hand, did not lose 
courage. His second in command suggested that 
they might use red-hot shot against the enemy ; fur- 
naces accordingly were prepared in various parts. 

On September 13 the ten batteries took up their 
places about six hundred yards from the shore, and 
opened fire. For some hours the fire went on from 



THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 593 

both sides, without, as it seemed, much effect. The 
batteries could not break down the fortifications nor 
silence the British guns. The besieged, on the other 
hand, appeared to make no impression on the bat- 
teries. The red-hot shot either bounded off the tops 
or pierced the sides without doing any harm. If at 
any time smoke was seen, the fire was speedily put out. 
But in the course of the afternoon it could be seen 
that something was wrong with the floating batteries. 
They did not keep up their cannonade, and the crews 
had evidently as much as they could do to keep them 
from catching fire. Before midnight two were seen to 
be in flames. The British gunners, able to take good 
aim by the light of the fire, went on with their can- 
nonade more furiously than ever. Six more of the 
batteries were burnt, and before long the other two 
were destroyed. These the British had captured, but 
in one the powder magazine blew up, and the other was 
found to be so injured that it had to be burnt. The 
besiegers lost 1600 men, and would have lost more 
had it not been for the courage and kindness of the 
British, who did their best to take the crews of the 
batteries that had been destroyed. 

The siege, though continued in name till peace was 
made in February 1783, was now at an end. 

QQ 



594 STOJilES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

" THE GREATEST SAILOR SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN." 

I HAVE not Space to tell the whole story of Nelson's 
life, and so must pass over many gallant deeds, and 
begin with the action which, I may say, first made 
him really famous. It was the 14th of February, 1797, 
and Nelson, who was then thirty-eight,^ was in com- 
mand of the Captain^ a 74-gun ship in the fleet 
commanded by Sir John Jervis. England was then at 
war with both France and Spain, and Jervis was very 
anxious to prevent the Spanish fleet from joining the 
French. He met it on its way northwards — it was 
bound for Brest — and as it happened, gave an order 
which would have let.it slip by, but that Nelson, who 
knew better what was to be done, chose not to obey 
it. But it is not my business now to describe the 
battle — it is known by the name of the Battle of Cape 
St. Vincent — but to say what part Nelson took in it. 

^ He was born at Burnham Thorpe, in the county of Norfolk, 
pri Michaelmas Day, 1758. 



" THE GREATEST SAILOR." 595 

The Captain^ after engaging with other Spanish ships, 
closed with the San Nicolas, an 84-gun. While the 
action was going on, the Spaniard got entangled with 
another man-of-war, the San Josef. Nelson's ship 
had been a good deal knocked about ; its foremast 
was down, and its wheel shot away ; it certainly, 
therefore, could not sail to any purpose. Accordingly 
he called for the boarders, at the same time ordering 
the helm to be so put about that his ship should get 
quite close to her antagonist. Our men jumped on 
board, and Nelson was soon after them. While he was 
receiving the Spanish officers' swords, some shots were 
fired from the San Josef. Nelson called for the 
boarders again, himself scrambled aboard, and hasten- 
ing to the quarter-deck received the captain's sword. 
There was but very little fighting ; neither ship offered 
any serious resistance. But it was a very notable 
thing thus to take two ships, as it were at a blow. 
People at home could not say too much in praise of 
the captain of a seventy-four who took an eighty-four, 
and passed over its deck to take a 112-gun ship on 
the other side. His fellow-officers talked of" Nelson's 
patent bridge for boarding first-rates." " The quick 
perception that the ships were beaten, that the Captain 
was useless in the chase, the determination not to 
lie idle when anything could be done — all this was 
Nelson's own." And his own too was the bold 



596 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

disobedience to orders, without which there might not 
have been any battle at all- 
in the following year it became known in England 
that a large expedition was being fitted out in the 
French port of Toulon. No one knew whither it was 
to go. A squadron under Nelson was set to watch 
the harbour, but the French fleet got out during a 
gale of wind. Nelson's squadron was made much 
stronger, and he was sent to search for the enemy. 
He had already guessed the truth. The French were 
bound for Egypt, and were thinking, after they had 
conquered that country, of going on to India, It is 
a wonderful thing that he should have found out what 
does not seem to have been so much as thought of by 
the Government at home. For some time he searched 
for the French fleet in various parts of the Mediter- 
ranean, but could not see or hear of it. He even 
went to Egypt, but it had not then arrived. The 
search was begun on June 7, and it was not till July 
28 that he learnt that the French had been seen on 
June 30 near the island of Candia, sailing eastward. 
This made him feel sure that it had gone to Egypt. 
Thither he sailed, and on August I he found the 
enemy, thirteen ships-of-the-line and four frigates, at 
anchor in Aboukir Bay. The bay is to the east of 
Alexandria, between that city and Rosetta. Nelson 
had twelve ships-of-the-line and one frigate. One of his 



''THE GREATEST SAILOR" 597 

ships, the Ciilloden, struck on a rock before the battle 
began, and remained there till it was over. On the 
whole, the French fleet had 1 198 guns and 1 1,1 10 men, 
against 924 guns and 7478 men on our side. But our 
ships were in a better condition, and the crews better 
disciplined. 

The French fleet was anchored in line, about three 
miles from the shore. The English ships, none of 
them firing a gun till quite close to the enemy, began 
with the end of the enemy's line, and beat them, we 
may say, one by one. The battle began about 7 p.m. 
In about two hours' time the five ships first attacked 
were conquered. At 10.30 p.m. the Orient^ 120-gun, 
which bore the admiral's flag, blew up. All night the 
fight went on. When it was over, nine French ships 
had been taken, and /c>?/r destroyed. Four escaped. A 
more complete victory has never been won than the 
Battle of the Nile.i 

In 1 80 1 the English Government found it necessary 
to declare war against Denmark. I cannot fully ex- 
plain their reasons, but I may say so much. England 
was engaged in a desperate struggle with France ; 
Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, while professing to 
favour neither side, acted in such a way as likely to 
help France and injure England very much. On 

^ The letters of Horatio Nelson make the Latin sentence 
Honor est A nilo (" Honour is from the Nile"). 



598 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

April 2 Nelson, with nine ships (three ran aground in 
attempting to follow) passed up the channel on 
which Copenhagen is situated, and anchored opposite 
the floating batteries belonging to the Danes. At 
lo a.m. the battle began. Three hours passed. The 
English ships had suffered much ; two of those that 
had run aground had hoisted signals of distress, and 
none of the Danish batteries had been silenced. The 
admiral in chief command — Nelson was acting under 
his orders — hoisted the signal, " Leave off action." 
But the admiral had sent the captain of his ship to 
explain that Nelson might obey the order or not, as 
he thought best. Nelson preferred not to obey, and, 
as usual, was quite right. " Leave off action ? " he 
said, when the signal was reported to him. " Not I." 
" You know. Hardy," he went on, speaking to the cap- 
tain of his ship, " that I have a right to be blind 
sometimes," and putting his glass into his blind eye, 
said, " I really do not see this signal." In an hour's 
time it was no longer doubtful which way the battle 
would go. Most of the Danish ships and batteries 
had ceased to fire. The Daiinebrog, the ship of the 
Danish commander, blew up, and every one on board 
except those who jumped into the water, perished. 
At half-past two Nelson sent a letter to the Crown 
Prince of Denmark in these words — " Lord Nelson has 
orders to spare Denmark when no longer resisting ; but 



" THE GREATEST SAILOR." 599 

if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, Lord 
Nelson will be obliged to set on fire all the floating 




LORD NELSON. 



batteries which he has taken, without having the power 
of saving the brave Danes who have defended them." 
In the end a truce for twenty-four hours was made ; 



6oo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

after this an armistice for fourteen years, and finally a 
peace. 

Four years later England was in greater danger 
than ever. Napoleon was bent on invading her; if he 
could have got command of the sea, there would be 
nothing to prevent his crossing the Channel, and put- 
ting on her shores armies so large that it would have 
scarcely been possible to resist them. This command 
he never was really likely to get ; the last thing that 
Nelson did for his country was to make it impossible. 
Till the very end of the war — and it lasted for nearly 
ten years after the battle which I am about to describe 
— there never was any question about England ruling 
the sea. France did not even attempt to dispute it. 

On September 15, 1805, Nelson sailed from Ports- 
mouth in the Victory. On the 28th he joined the 
British fleet, which was then lying off Cadiz, and 
took the command. The French admiral, Villeneuve, 
was lying in that port, and was not at all anxious to 
come out. But Napoleon threatened to take away his 
command if he did not, and on October 19-20 he came 
out. Nelson during this time had been busy explain- 
ing to the officers who commanded under him his 
plan of battle. When the time came, every man knew 
exactly what he had to do. Generally, we may say, 
the plan was the same as it had been at the battle of 
the Nile — to attack first one portion of the enemy's 



* ' THE GKEA TES T SAIL OR. " 60 1 

fleet and then another with a superior force. As at 
the Nile, the enemy, a combination of the French and 
Spanish fleets, was superior in the number both of ships 
and guns — thirty-three ships with 2601 guns to twenty- 
seven with 2294. At half-past eleven a.m. on Oct. 21 
he made the celebrated signal : ENGLAND EXPECTS 
THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. Half-an-hour 
later the Royal Sovereign came into action. For some 
time she was alone, with several French and Spanish 
ships firing at her, but with so little skill that she 
received very little damage. Her own fire she kept till 
she was quite close, and then discharged it with terrible 
effect. Almost exactly the same thing happened with 
Nelson's ship the Victory. At least half-a-dozen 
Spaniards and Frenchmen cannonaded her. They 
did some damage, but not a fifth part of what she 
did to the Biicentaure, the French ship into which she 
discharged her broadside. Nearly four hundred men 
were killed or wounded by it. But it was with 
another ship, the Redoubtable^ that the Victory became 
finally engaged. The Frenchmen were driven from 
their guns by the superior fire of the English. But 
they had a number of men on their top-masts, and 
these kept up such a fire on the upper decks of the 
Victory that it was impossible to stand there. Nelson 
would never allow this kind of fighting to go on from 
the ships which he commanded. He was afraid of their 



6o2 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

being set on fire, a thing which he had seen happen. 
About half-past one in the afternoon a shot from the 
top of the mizzen-mast struck him on the left shoulder, 
and passing through the epaulette, the lungs, and the 
spine, lodged in the muscles of the back. He fell on 
the deck. When Hardy, who was his flag-captain, 
endeavoured to raise him, he said, " They have done 
for me at last. Hardy." " I hope not," answered 
Hardy. " Yes ; my backbone is shot through." He 
was carried below, and lingered in great pain for three 
hours. At times he was unconscious. But he seems 
to have known that a victory had been won. " Ten 
ships, my lord, have struck," said Hardy to him. 
" But none, I hope, of ours," he answered. Later on 
he heard the total number. "God be praised!" he 
murmured ; " bring the fleet to an anchor." The 
dying Wolfe was also thinking up to the last of his 
duty as General. About half-past four he died, his 
last words having been, " Thank God ! I have done 
my duty." Unfortunately, Admiral Collingwood, who 
succeeded to the command of the fleet, would not 
anchor. The consequence was that, as the weather 
became bad, some of the prizes were lost and others 
were recovered by their crews, who had to be set at 
liberty, if the ships were not to sink. Four only of 
the prizes were taken into Gibraltar. Four others, 
however, which had escaped from the battle, were 



FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 603 

taken by another English squadron on November 4. 
These were all in fair condition, and one of them is 
still afloat, being used as a training-ship. Of the 
eleven that escaped into Cadiz, not one was ever used 
again. Practically, the French and Spanish fleets 
were destroyed. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 

On April 22, 1809, Wellington! landed at Lisbon. 
The object which he set before himself was to defend 
Portugal from the French, and possibly to deliver 
Spain from them. We shall see with what wonderful 
skill he carried it out. 

This was not the first time that England had tried 
to strike at N|Lpoleon's power by attacking him in the 
Peninsula, of which he had gained possession in a 
very shameful way, and where he was greatly hated 
by the people. In the year before, Wellington him- 
self had defeated the French at Vimiera, and had 

1 He was at this time Sir Arthur Wellesley. He was created 
Lord Wellington about three months after this time (after 
winning the battle of Talavera), but it will be convenient to call 
him by the name by which he is commonly known. 



6o4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

made an agreement with them by which they engaged 
to leave Portugal. Later, in 1808, Sir John Moore had 
marched into Spain, where, according to agreement, 
large Spanish forces were to meet him. The promise 
was not kept. Sir John Moore found no one ; the 
only Spanish army that could have come to his help 
was defeated, and having but 27,000 men to oppose 
to 70,000 of the enemy, he could do nothing but 
retreat. This he did, closely followed by the French. 
At Corunna, he turned upon his pursuers and inflicted 
a heavy defeat upon them, dying in the moment of 
victory. This then was the work which Wellington 
now took up. Accordingly he proceeded to make 
sure that Lisbon should be safe from the enemy ; and 
that his own army should have a place to which it 
could retreat. Lisbon stands at the sea or south end 
of a peninsula some thirty miles long, which has the 
sea on one side and the estuary of the Tagus on the 
other. Twenty-five miles to the north are some hills, 
called Torres Vedras. Here Wellington made a line 
of forts, and another, yet stronger, ten miles nearer 
Lisbon. Here was to be the refuge of his army if 
ever he should be compelled to fall back before 
superior forces. 

There is no need to describe his movements during 
the next few months. They were very bold and 
skilful, and, as for a time it seemed, very successful. 



FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 605 

By May 19, not quite four weeks from the time 

he landed, there was not a single French soldier in 

Portugal. He then marched into Spain. He relied 

on being helped by the Spanish troops, for he had 

not yet found out how little they could be trusted. 

They made him lose more than one chance of beating 

the enemy. Nevertheless, he won a great victory at 

Talavera (July 27-28), though he got very little help 

from his allies. But his experiences in Spain taught 

him that the work before him was one of great 

difficulty, and that he must be prepared for the worst. 

In the next year (18 10) came the time for using the 

shelter provided. Napoleon, who had been greatly 

vexed at the defeats suffered by his troops, sent a great 

number of troops into Spain, and with them the best of 

his generals — " marshals " they were called — Massena. 

Wellington might have got back to his shelter without 

fighting ; but he chose to stop and give the French 

the chance of attacking him. He felt sure that his 

army would be able to hold its own, and a victory 

gained at this time would be worth much. It 

would put his own men in good spirits ; it would 

strengthen the Government at home, and would make 

the Portuguese more willing to exert themselves.^ The 

spot where he halted was Busaco, a place about 

one hundred and thirty miles north of Lisbon, for 

^ He seems afterwards to have thought that he had made a 
mistake in fighting. 



6o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the French were in Portugal again. It is a ridge 
on a Hne of hills, and about eight miles long. Two 
French columns attacked the position. The left 
column got up to the crest of the hill, and held 
it for a time. Our troops were not numerous enough 
to occupy the whole length of the ridge, and this 
particular spot was not defended. The French were 
soon driven down the slope. The column on the 
right did not do even so much, for they never quite 
reached the "top. Wellington's army lost about 1 300 
in killed and wounded ; the French more than three 
times as many. 

The battle of Busaco was fought on September 27. 
About a fortnight later, Wellington was behind the 
lines of Torres Vedras. It is a curious thing that till 
then no one, neither the Portuguese Government nor 
his own army, knew for what these lines were meant. 
As for Massena, he had not so much as heard of them. 
He surveyed them, hoping to find a weak spot in 
them, but could not. He never ventured to attack 
them, though he remained in Portugal all the winter. 
His army fared badly during that time ; but if 
Wellington's plan of laying all the country waste had 
been carried out, he would have fared much worse. 
As it was, he lost great numbers of men from disease 
and want, and when he made up his mind to retreat, 
had only 50,000 left out of 70,000. 




A FRENCH BIVOUAC. 



FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 609 

Massena began his retreat on March 2, and con- 
trived it so cleverly that it was not known for some 
time. But on the 7th Wellington was pursuing him ; 
and less than a month later crossed the Spanish 
frontier. Portugal was again free from the enemy. 
By this time, it should be said, he had a much 
stronger army, more British troops and some good 
Portuguese regiments. These latter had been drilled 
during the winter, and could be trusted to stand fire 
and do good service generally. On May 3—4 he 
fought a doubtful battle at Fuentes d'Onoro. The loss 
on both sides was much the same, but the English took 
possession of a strong fortress, Almeida, which would 
be useful if Portugal were to be again invaded. This 
was Massena's last battle ; Marmont had been sent 
by Napoleon to take his place. A few days later 
(May 16) a fierce battle was fought at Albuera, not 
by Wellington but by Beresford, one of his lieuten- 
ants, who was scarcely as able as he was brave. It 
was a victory, but very dearly bought, for our loss 
was 7000 to 8000 on the side of the French. Out of 
6000 British troops, only 1500 were left unwounded. 
Later in the year, Wellington tried to take two great 
fortresses of which the French had gained possession, 
Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo, but was obliged to 
retire from both, the French bringing up against him 
superior forces. This was the end of the third 

R R 



6io STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

campaign. The winter before he had spent behind 
the Hnes of Torres Vedras, all the country that he 
could command being the Lisbon Peninsula. Now 
he was in Spain, and so secure that a pack of hounds 
was kept in the camp, and the country was regularly 
hunted. 

The fourth campaign (1812) was begun very early, 
and with a great surprise. On January 12 Welling- 
ton took the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo by storm, 
and not quite three months later (April 6) he got 
possession of Badajos in the same way. Both were 
terrible fights, Wellington losing about 1300 men 
in the first and more than 5000 ^ in the second ; but 
they were great blows to the enemy. 

Wellington was now free to begin the second part 
of his task. He had driven the French out of 
Portugal ; he was now to drive them out of Spain. 
It was a wonderful thing to do, but you must not 
forget that he was greatly helped by what Napoleon 
was now doing. The P'rench Emperor had been 
preparing for some time to invade Russia. In June 
he started. If he had sent into Spain but a half of 
the enormous army ^ which he took with him on this 
fatal expedition, Wellington could not possibly have 
done what he did. 

^ Wellington burst into tears when he heard of this awful total. 
^ He lost 257,000 men in this campaign. 



FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 61 1 

After various movements, which I have not space to 
describe, but in which it may be said that the very- 
skilful French general, Marmont, had rather the 
advantage, the two armies met at Salamanca (July 
22). Marmont made the mistake of leaving a great 
gap between two parts of his army. WeUington saw 
it in a moment and attacked, and in an hour's fight- 
ing the French line was finally broken. Marmont, 
who had ridden forward to do what he could to repair 
his blunder, was severely wounded and carried off the 
field. The same thing happened to his second in 
command. The third made a skilful retreat, which 
would, however, have been cut off if the Spaniards 
had done their proper part in the day's work. But 
they had left their post and the French escaped. As 
it was, they lost 12,000 out of 42,000 men, Welling- 
ton's being about half as much out of 46,000. It 
should be noted that, for the first time, the British 
army was superior in numbers. On August 12 
Wellington entered Madrid, from which Joseph Bona- 
parte, to whom the Emperor had given the empty 
title of King of Spain, had fled a few days before. 
But he was not strong enough to hold the place. He 
had to leave it and to retreat. This he did, not 
without some loss, but on the whole with success. 
The fourth campaign of the war was now at an end. 
Wellington thus sums it up in a letter written to a 



6i2 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

friend on November 30 : " Although we have not been 
able to hold the two Castilles, our campaign has not 
been a bad one, and we are in a position to make 
a good one next year." 

The campaign of 181 3 began with a forward move- 
ment into Spain. It was delayed for some time 
while Wellington made his arrangements, for it was 
not till May 22 that he himself passed the Spanish 
frontier. On that day, when crossing the Agueda, a 
river which flows into the Douro, he rose in his 
stirrups and cried, " Farewell, Portugal ! " And 
indeed he never saw the country again, for when 
the campaign was over, he sailed directly for 
England. 

And now the French were retreating, taking with 
them all that they could carry of the vast plunder 
which they gathered together in Spain. King Joseph 
was nominally in command, with Marshal Jourdan 
to help him. The two could not agree ; the troops, 
too, were disappointed ; they were in retreat, and 
retreat never suits the French soldier, who is very apt 
to lose heart, and, unlike the Englishman, knows only 
too soon when he is beaten. At Vittoria, a valley 
near the mountains of Biscay, Joseph found himself 
compelled to make a stand. 

Through this valley of Vittoria there runs a river 
named the Zamorra, and by the river the high-road 



FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 613 

to Bayonne, along which the French were marching, 
with a vast train of baggage. At either end there are 
hills. It was at these two ends, as well as in the 
middle, where there are several bridges over the river, 
that Wellington made his attack. General Graham 
was on the left or west, General Hill on the right, 
Wellington in the centre. There was much fierce 
fighting everywhere, but especially on the left. If the 
French could have been beaten here, their whole 
army would have been destroyed. But their com- 
mander here held his own bravely, and though the 
road to Bayonne was seized by the English, another, 
namely to Bampeluna, was left open. By this the 
French army was able to retreat. The losses in 
killed and wounded were much the same on either 
side — between five and six thousand ; but the French 
lost everything but their lives and arms, one hundred 
and fifty out of one hundred and fifty-two guns, all 
their stores of ammunition and food, all their baggage, 
in fact everything that belonged to themselves or that 
they were carrying away out of Spain. 

The battle of Vittoria was fought on June 21. For 
more than a year afterwards the war went on, first in 
Spain before San Sebastian, which was besieged on 
July 10 and taken by storm three weeks later, and 
among the valleys and heights of the Pyrenees ; and 
afterwards in France itself, which Wellington entered 



6i4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

on October 7. The last battle was fought at Toulouse 
on April 10, 18 14, and fought to no purpose, because 
Napoleon had abdicated six days before. , 



CHAPTER XIX. 

WATERLOO. 



I SAID in the last chapter that Napoleon abdicated, 
i.e. gave up the throne of France on April 6, 18 14. 
He was allowed to remain an Emperor, but of a very 
small empire, namely, the little island of Elba, 
between Italy and Corsica. This, as you may sup- 
pose, did not satisfy him long. He left Elba on 
February 26, 181 5, and returned to France. Here 
most of his old soldiers joined him again, and for a 
short time — the Hundred Days, as it is called ^ — he 
was again Emperor of France. 

The kings or their ambassadors had been quarrel- 
ling at Vienna, where they had met to arrange the 
affairs of Europe ; but the news of Napoleon's return 
made them agree. All promised to help in resisting 

1 The "Hundred Days" are reckoned from March 20, 18 15, 
the day on which he entered Paris after his return from Elba, 
to June 29, the day on which he left that city never to return. 



WATERLOO 615 

him, and it was settled that in six weeks 700,000 men 
should be ready to fight. As a matter of fact, nothing 
of the kind was done. England, indeed, sent an 
army over into Belgium, but it was not a large one, 
for there were only 30,000 British troops in it, and 
some of these were new recruits. Wellington was, of 
course, put in command, but the veteran soldiers 
whom he had led to victory in Portugal and Spain 
were, for the most part, in America, whither they had 
been sent for the war with the United States. The 
total number that he had was rather above 
100,000, and this was made up by Germans, 
who, for the most part, were good troops ; Dutch, 
who were not so good, but still fair ; and Belgians, 
many of whom were very bad. The Prussians had 
an army of about 80,000 in the field, under Marshal 
Blucher, their most famous general. Napoleon, on 
the other hand, had an army of 130,000, composed, 
for the most part, of excellent soldiers, the veterans 
whom he had commanded in so many wars. He 
hurried from Paris, which he left on June 12, to the 
French frontier. His plan was to attack first the 
Prussians and then the English with his whole force. 
Wellington was at Brussels, Blucher at Namur, that 
is about fifty miles apart. On June 16 Napoleon 
attacked the Prussians' left at Fleurus and defeated 
them, but not so heavily as to make them unable to 



6i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

move. On the same day one of his marshals, Ney, 
fell on the British troops at Quatre Bras. He did not 
begin his attack till late in the day ; had he been 
earlier, he might have done more, for he would cer- 
tainly have found his adversaries weaker. As it was, 
though some Belgian troops fled from the field, and 
the Duke of Brunswick's legion was broken for a 
time, their leader being killed, Ney could not drive 
the British from their position. The total loss of 
the Allies was about 25,000 men in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners ; that of the French about 16,000. 
Napoleon had won a victory, but not so great a one 
as he wanted. He had beaten, but not routed, the 
.Prussians, and he had not beaten the British at all. 

On the 17th there was no fighting ; it was on the 
1 8th that the great battle was fought which was to 
put an end to Napoleon's power. Wellington's line 
of battle was along a ridge about two miles long. 
Behind it was the Forest of Soignies, into which he 
could retreat if it became necessary. In front of him 
on the right was a country house called Hougoumont, 
and about the centre a farm named La Haye Sainte. 
The ridge gave some shelter to his troops from the 
French cannon. He had about 62,000 men, with 1 56 
guns ; Napoleon had 65,000 with 246 guns ; but 
some of Wellington's troops were, as has been said, 
worth but very little. It was not so much that they 




FRENCH TROOPS IN ACTION. 



WATERLOO, 619 

wanted courage, but they were better disposed to 
the French than to us. 

Napoleon did not begin the attack until about half- 
an-hour before noon. There had been rain in the 
night, and it would be convenient that the ground 
should dry before he moved. Still, as it turned out, 
this was a mistake. Napoleon did not know that the 
Prussians were as near the English army as they 
really were ; if he had, he would certainly have done 
his best to beat the British troops before the>^ could 
possibly come up. The first thing done was to attack 
Hougoumont. Here fierce fighting went on during 
the whole day, but the French never got possession 
of the whole place. The house was always held by 
the British garrison. But at the centre things were 
somewhat better for the French. They took the 
farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, and routed the Dutch- 
Belgian brigade. Yet here, too, they suffered a con- 
siderable loss ; thrown into disorder by the heavy fire 
from the English lines, they were charged by the 
Union Brigade of cavalry on one side, and by the 
Household Brigade or Lifeguards on the other. 
Napoleon, who had found out from a Prussian officer 
who had been taken prisoner that Blucher was ad- 
vancing, made more and more furious efforts to break 
the English line. A huge body of cavalry, as many 
as 12,000 in number, charged time after time, but 



620 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

could not break the squares of British infantry. " 1 
shall beat them yet," Wellington said about this time 
to one of his officers. Still, the battle was far from 
being won. The fierce cannonade had so thinned a 
part of the line where the Hanoverians were posted 
that the Duke himself had to rally the wavering 
troops. 

It was now late. Napoleon had been vainly trying 
for eight hours to overcome the stubborn British lines, 
and now the Prussians had appeared on the field. 
He made one last effort, sending the last ten bat- 
talions of the Old Guard. It was in vain. They 
charged in two columns, but both were broken and 
driven back. Then Wellington ordered an advance 
of the whole British line. The French army broke 
up in hopeless confusion and fled. Napoleon's 
Empire had fallen. It was a splendid victory, but 
dearly bought. The British loss in killed and 
wounded was 15,000, the Prussians nearly half as 
much. This last fact shows that the Prussian army 
had a much greater share in the battle than most 
people think. 



NAVARINO, 621 



CHAPTER XX. 

NAVARINO. 

On the first day of January, 1822, the Greeks 
declared themselves independent. For some time 
past they had been discontented with Turkish rule. 
They had rebelled more than once, and at this time 
had driven the Turks out of the Morea.^ Great 
sympathy was felt for them throughout Europe, 
especially by those who had read the history and 
knew the books of ancient Greece. 

Fighting went on for some years. The Greeks won 
some victories, but they were not a match for their 
enemies. In May 1827, Athens, which had been 
captured by the patriots five years before, was com- 
pelled to surrender to the Turks. Then England, 

^ The Morea^ so called from its resemblance to a mulberry 
leaf, is what was called in ancient times the Peloponnesus 
(Island of Pelops), being surrounded by the sea everywhere 
except where it is joined to mainland Greece by the narrow 
Isthmus of Corinth. Greece was conquered by the Turks in 
1460 (seven years after the capture of Constantinople). Towards 
the end of the next century it came intjo the hands of Venice, 
and the Turks recovered it in 17 14. 



622 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

France, and Russia joined together to bring about 
peace, more readily because the Turks carried on the 
war in the most savage fashion. But the Turks 
refused to come to terms, and made a great effort 
thoroughly to subdue the rebels, as they called the 
Greeks. For this purpose they collected a fleet of 
seventy men-of-war of various sizes ^ at Navarino, a 
harbour on the western side of the Morea. This fleet 
was under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, eldest son 
of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. Early in Septem- 
ber the Russian squadron joined the fleets of England 
and France, and the three admirals sent a message to 
Ibrahim to this effect — " We are instructed from home 
to prevent any further fighting between the Turks and 
the Greeks, and we desire you to do your best to 
carry this out." Ibrahim appeared to consent, and 
an armistice, that is, a stay of fighting, was concluded 
till an answer should come from the Sultan at Con- 
stantinople. But Ibrahim did not mean to keep his 
word. No answer was expected for twenty days, but 
at the end of a week the Egyptian squadron stole out 
of the harbour of Navarino, intending to carry on the 
war elsewhere. The English admiral sailed after 
it, and, though he had only three ships with him, 

1 There were three line-of-battle ships, five 54-gun ships, 
fifteen frigates, twenty-five corvettes, and twelve brigs, with 
<^welve smaller vessels. 



NA VARINO, 625 

compelled it to come back. No satisfactory answer 
was received from the Sultan, and the three admirals 
made up their minds to blockade the Turkish fleet in 
the harbour of Navarino. No one supposed that 
Ibrahim would venture to resist. 

In the afternoon of October 20 the combined fleets 
sailed into the harbour. The Turks, on seeing them, 
began to prepare for battle, though they were not by 
any means all of one mind. The Egyptian admiral, 
for instance, who may have remembered, or possibly 
seen, the battle of the Nile, declared that he would not 
fight. Their fleet was arranged in the shape of a 
crescent ; so large was it that the horns of this crescent 
nearly surrounded the ships of the three Allies. These 
latter had strict orders not to fire a gun, unless the 
Turkish ships should first fire on them. But if this 
were to happen, then they were to set to work in real 
earnest, for the admirals' orders ended with a famous 
message once sent by Nelson to the captains of his 
fleet—" No captain can do wrong who lays his ship 
alongside one of the enemy." 

The Turks began the fighting, for they fired upon a 
boat which had been sent with a message to a Turkish 
fire-ship, which the Allies thought to be dangerously 
near. An English and a French ship returned the 
fire, and then sent parties of their crews to board the 
fire-ship. They were just about to do this when it was 



626 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

blown up. Next an Egyptian frigate poured a broad- 
side upon the Dartmouth, one of the British ships. 
The men in the rigging hurried down to the deck, and 
the captain called to them, " Now, my men, down to 
the main-deck, and fire away as fast as you can." 

The English admiral, still anxious to avoid, if 
possible, a general battle, sent his pilot to the Turkish 
commander for an explanation. But the enemy fired 
upon the boat and killed the messenger. On this the 
admiral poured one broadside on a Turkish and the 
other on an Egyptian ship. Both were reduced to 
mere wrecks ; but as they swung aside they made way 
for a second line of the enemies' ships. These all 
opened fire, and in a few minutes more the battle 
became p-eneral, and the whole harbour was covered 
with ships fiercely engaged. And while some of the 
enemies' ships were still fighting others were burning, 
while, from time to time, first one and then another 
blew up with a terrible explosion. As soon as an 
enemy's ship became disabled its crew set fire to it. 

For nearly four hours the battle went on, for, as I 
have said, it was past two o'clock when it began, and 
the sun had set before it was finished. Of all the 
seventy Turkish ships only one frigate and seventeen 
smaller vessels remained fit to put to sea. All the 
others had been knocked to pieces, sunk, or burnt. 
The loss of the Turks was terribly great, for the ships 



NA VARINO. 627 

were crowded with men, and the fire of the Allies was 
so well directed that it made dreadful havoc among 
them. It was reckoned afterwards that between five 
and six thousand Turks and Egyptians perished at 
Navarino. 

Strange stories are told of the carelessness of the 
Turks about their own men. When the battle was 
over, the English admiral sent to the Turkish com- 
mander offering him any help that he might want. 
There had been terrible slaughter among his men. 
Hundreds of corpses had been thrown overboard, and 
the deck was strewed with wounded. Some Turkish 
officers were smoking and drinking coffee. " We don't 
want any help," said one of them to our admiral's 
messenger. " But," said the Englishman, " shall not 
our surgeon attend to your wounded ? " 

" No," replied the Turk, " wounded men want no 
help ; they soon die." 

The English loss was about 140 in killed and 
wounded, that of the French a little more. 



628 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XXL 



For the last three hundred years many British 
sailors, and not a few belonging to other nations, 
have been making voyages into the region of per- 
petual ice and snow. For a long time, far, we may 
say, into this century, these voyages were made in the 
hope of gain — not to be got at once, indeed, but to 
come some day. It was believed that there was a 
short way to the East, which would make trade with 
India and China more profitable. Now — and there 
is still as much zeal about Arctic voyaging as ever 
— it is knowledge that men have in view. 

Sebastian Cabot was the first to have the idea of 
a " North-west Passage, " as it was called. This was 
about 1497. Half-a-century afterwards. Sir Hugh 
Willoughby sailed to find it, but he and his crew 
perished of hunger. Then a " North-eastern " passage 
was looked for. Frobisher, Davis, Barentz are the 
names of some of the brave seamen who went on 
this errand. But no one had more success than 



''THE WHITE north:* 629 

Henry Hudson, who made his way in a vessel in which 
one would hardly like now to cross to America, with 
a crew of ten men and a boy, as far north as latitude 
80° 30'. This was in 1607. He made three more 
voyages. In the fourth his crew mutinied and put 
him out in an open boat to die of cold and hunger. 
Hudson's Bay, which he discovered, bears his name. 
In 1743 the English Government offered a large 
reward to any one who should discover a north-west 
passage, and some years afterwards another reward 
to any one who should get to within one degree of 
the North Pole. This second reward has never been 
earned, for no one has been nearer to the Pole (as 
I write the distance has been lessened by 160 miles) 
than 400 miles, nearly six degrees ; but the first was 
paid to Captain McClure, who discovered the passage 
in October 1856. By that time, however, all idea that 
it might be found useful for trade had been given 
up. But I cannot tell the story of Arctic navigation ; 
all that I can do is to give some account of the 
adventures of one man, John Franklin. I choose him, 
not because he was the most skilful and experienced 
of the many brave seamen who have explored these 
dreary and dangerous regions, but because he is 
certainly the most famous. 

Franklin, born at Spilsby in Lincolnshire in 1786, 
was present as a midshipman at the battles of Copen- 



630 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

hagen and Trafalgar. Most of the time between 
these two he spent in a voyage of discovery in the 
Southern hemisphere. His first voyage to the Arctic 
regions was made in 1818. In the year following 
he was sent again, this time in command of a land 
expedition. He and his party went by sea to Fort 
York, on the east side of Hudson's Bay. There they 
took what was called a " York boat," a flat-bottomed 
boat about forty feet long, which drew only twelve 
inches of water. In this they could navigate even 
very shallow rivers. Their plan was to go from river 
to river, and lake to lake, dragging their boat over land 
when it was necessary. After a great deal of labour 
and suffering, the party reached the Great Slave Lake, 
which is about 800 miles north-west of Fort York. 
Here they were to pass the winter, and to build a 
house which they called Fort Enterprise. But on 
examining their store of provisions they found that 
they had not enough to last. One of the officers, 
Lieut. Back, started for Fort Chipewyan, which is on 
Athabasca Lake, to have some more sent on. He 
travelled more than a thousand miles (there and back) 
on snow-shoes, sometimes having no food for two 
or three days together. The party left their winter 
quarters in the beginning of June, in the next year, 
and on the 15th of that month reached the shore of 
the Arctic Sea. The journey back was a terrible one. 



THE WHITE NORTH: 



631 



For days together the travellers lived on a plant, 
called tripe de roche, with now and then some singed 
hide or bit of old leather. They thought themselves 
lucky if they found the bones and putrid flesh of a 
dead deer. On October 4, Lieut. Back went on 
ahead to Fort Enterprise to fetch provisions, and a 




*i*lllM\Vt t^^^""^'' 



VESSEL TOWED THROUGH THE ICE. 



few days afterwards Franklin and some of his party 
followed him, leaving the rest, who were too weak 
to move, under the care of Mr. Richardson, the doctor, 
and another officer. When Franklin reached the fort 
he found nothing. The Indians had promised to 
make a store of provisions, but had not done it. 



632 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 

Back had left a note saying that he was going on 
to Fort Providence, and would send food from there. 
Franklin and his companions were too weak to 
move more than a few yards at a time. On October 
24 he, with two others, started to look for the 
Indians, but his snow-shoes broke, and he was com- 
pelled to come back. While he was away some 
reindeer came close to the house, but the men were 
too weak to shoot them. On the 29th Richardson, 
the doctor, arrived with a seaman : these two were 
the only survivors of the party of 'eight left at the 
first halting-place. Hood had been murdered by a 
Canadian boatman, Michel by name, and Richardson 
had shot Michel in self-defence. The man had been 
suspected of murdering and devouring two others of 
his companions. Only six of the company were now 
left alive, and of these two soon died. On November 
7, three Indians, who had been sent by Back with 
food, arrived. The Indians took the kindest care of 
the sick men. In the end, after spending another 
winter in the country, they reached York Factory on 
July 14, and four months later got back to England. 
Franklin had been away from England for more than 
two years. In 1825 he went again to the same 
region, and by the same way. This time everything 
was well managed ; proper preparations for food, 
etc., were made, and the expedition was prosperous. 



" THE WHITE north:' 633 

Many hundred miles of the north coast of America 
were surveyed, and the party returned safely to 
England. 

In 1843 Franklin, now Sir John, went again in 
command of an expedition, which this time was to go 
by sea. He had now two ships, the Erebus and the 
Terror^ which had lately come back from a voyage 
to the regions of the South Pole. The ships were 
made as fit for the work as possible, and were 
supplied with provisions for two years. The crew 
consisted of twenty-three officers, and a hundred and 
eleven men. No man had had more experience of 
Arctic voyaging than Franklin, but he was too old 
for the work. The expedition set sail on May 19, 
and was last seen by the captain of a whaling ship 
in Melville Bay, which is on the west coast of 
Greenland. But though both the ships and the crews 
were absolutely lost, something has been learnt 
about their fate by those who went out in search 
of them. It seems that at first things went well 
with them. But in the second year their ships were 
caught in a pack of ice from which they never got 
free. In this ice their second winter was spent. And 
now the great discovery was made. Though the ships 
could not be moved, two of the officers made an 
expedition to King William Island, and saw then 
that if they could only get their ships so far — and 



634 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

there was nothing but ice to hinder it — they would 
have made the North-west Passage. FrankHn himself 
died on June ii, 1847. ^f the survivors had made 
up their minds at once that the ships must be left, 
and had made their way by land to some factory 
in Northern Canada, they might have saved their 
lives. But they were unwilling to give up the hope 
of success, especially as they knew that it was within 
their reach, if only they could get clear of the ice. 
And of this they had hopes for a time. The whole 
pack began to move southward, but when it was 
sixty miles from the American shore it became 
fixed again. So it came to pass that the crew had 
to spend the third winter in the ice. When this 
was finished their provisions had come to an end, 
for they had started with food for three years only. 
In the spring of 1843 ^^e survivors, one hundred and 
five in number, started on sledges for the Great Fish 
River. They seemed not to have actually reached it, 
though we know that they were not far off. Some 
Eskimos — this is the name given to the Indians who 
inhabit these regions — declared that they had seen 
white men travelling in this direction. Many expedi- 
tions were sent out from England in search for them. 
In 1854, Dr. Rae got from the Eskimos some forks 
and spoons that had belonged to the two ships. 
And in 1859, Captain M'Clintock, in the steam yacht 



THE KHYBER PASS. 635 

Fox, which had been fitted out by Lady FrankHn, 
found papers which one of the two officers mentioned 
before had left at Point Victory, with some words 
added by Captain Crozier, who was in command of 
the Terror, in 1848. It was on this paper that the 
date of Sir John Frankhn's death was given. Captain 
M'CHntock collected a number of relics belonging 
to the expedition. Of the Erebus and Terror nothing 
was ever discovered. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE KHYBER PASS. 



I AM going to tell the story of the greatest disaster 
that ever happened to a British army. 

In 1838-39 the Indian Government sent an army 
into Afghanistan. Its object was to restore a certain 
prince, Shah Soojah by name, who had been driven 
into exile nearly twenty years before. It hoped that 
he would be grateful for what had been done for him, 
and that the country which he ruled would be a valu- 
able ally. Unfortunately, Shah Soojah was a feeble 
creature, and his people hated him because he had 
been put over them by foreigners. 



636 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

For some time, however, everything was quiet, 
though there were some who suspected danger. But 
in 1 84 1 some of the Afghan chiefs rebelled. They 
had been provoked by having the payment which 
had been made to keep them quiet reduced. What 
they did was to occupy the passes between Afghanis- 
tan and India. The most important of these was the 
Khyber Pass, of which I shall have more to say here- 
after. A brigade which was returning to India was 
attacked on its way, and suffered no small loss, 
though it managed at last to get clear. The officer in 
command. General Sale, thought it best not to go 
♦ further than the town of Jellalabad. This place, of 
which we shall hear again, he occupied and fortified. 

Meanwhile a riot had broken out at Cabul, the 
capital of Afghanistan, and the envoy of the Indian 
Government was murdered. Very soon the whole 
city was in a state of revolt. The English force, 
which was considerable — four regiments of infantry 
and two of cavalry, with some other troops — was 
badly managed. Forts which might have been de- 
fended were given up, and other opportunities of 
attacking or resisting the enemy were lost. Else- 
where, also, great losses were suffered. One native 
regiment mutinied and murdered its officers ; another 
was destroyed by the Afghans. 

Then the civil officer, Macnaughten by name, to 



THE KHYBER PASS, 637 

whom the generals had to look for orders, resolved to 
negotiate with the enemy. The Afghan chiefs made 
delay after delay, but at last, on December 11, they 
agreed to a treaty. Twelve days afterwards, when 
Macnaughten rode out from Cabul to have a confer- 
ence with the chiefs, he was seized and murdered. 

Still, even after this, the English officers went on 
negotiating. They thought that they could neither 
remain in Cabul nor force their way back to India, 
and that therefore nothing could be done but accept 
the terms which the enemy offered them. Briefly, 
these were that they were to evacuate the country, 
and, in consideration of this, were to be allowed to 
return unhurt, with their arms and property. On 
January 6, 1842, a bitterly cold day, with the 
snow lying deep on their road, all that was left of the 
British army, with the women and children that 
belonged to them, left the city. There were 4500 men 
in all, of whom 690 were Europeans, an army quite 
strong enough to hold its own even then, if it had 
been well commanded. 

All the day was occupied in moving out, and from 
the first the enemy broke in the cruellest way the pro- 
mises made by their chiefs that the British should be 
allowed to retreat in safety. The first day only six 
miles of march were accomplished. The army and its 
followers bivouacked in the snow, without fire, shelter, 



638 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

or food. Many soldiers and camp-followers, accus- 
tomed to the warmth of an Indian climate, perished 
of cold. During the night a part of the native troops 
deserted. 

The next day, the march — if march it can be called 
— was resumed. The enemy still continued to plunder 
and kill. The soldiers had lost all heart, and made no 
resistance. They even allowed five out of their seven 
guns to fall into the hands of the Afghans. Another 
night even more miserable than the first followed. 
When the morning came, only a few hundred men 
were able to bear arms. In the course of the next 
day the women and children with the married officers 
were given over to the Afghan chiefs. 

On the loth the advance, consisting of what was 
left of the 44th Regiment (Europeans) and a few 
native cavalry, with one gun, had found their way 
through a narrow pass, in some places not more than 
ten feet wide, which lay in their way, and waited to 
be joined by the main body. But the main body had 
perished. Only a few stragglers survived to tell the 
story to those who, for the time, but only for the time, 
had escaped. 

The Afghan commander now offered to take the 
remnant that was left safely to Jellalabad, if they 
would lay down their arms. The offer was rejected, 
and Brigadier Shelton, who was in command, pro- 




AN AFGHAN PASS, SOLDIERS HAULING A GUN. 



THE KHYBER PASS. 641 

posed that they should make a night march to a 
place called Jugdulluk, which was about forty miles 
short of Jellalabad. The march was made, though 
not till after long delay, for the force had still a 
crowd of camp-followers w^ith it, and could not move 
quickly. Jugdulluk was reached on the afternoon of 
the nth, but no shelter was to be found here, and 
those still surviving had to march on again. The 
Afghans had put up across the road a barrier of prickly 
brushwood. This kept back the front rank from 
advancing ; the rear was continually attacked by the 
savage enemy. The British soldiers made a brave 
defence. One officer, a captain in the 44th regiment, 
slew five Afghans before he fell. At last the brush- 
wood barrier was broken down, and the few survivors 
— twenty officers and forty-five European soldiers — 
reached Gundamuk, a place half-way between Jug- 
dulluk and Jellalabad. They took up their position 
on a little hillock.^ At first the Afghans charged 
them, trying to wrest their arms from them, but were 
beaten back. The enemy then retired to a distance, 
and fired, picking off man after man. When they 
had weakened it, as they thought, enough, they 
charged again — they greatly wished, you see, to have 
some prisoners — and at last overpowered the little 
band. One officer, who had wrapped the colours of 

1 We are reminded of the Spartans at Thermopylae. 

T T 



642 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the 44th round his waist, was carried off, and with 
him a few private soldiers who had been wounded. 

Meanwhile the mounted officers had ridden for- 
ward. Of these five were killed on the way, two of 
them within four miles of Jellalabad. One survivor 
only, a doctor, Brydon by name, reached that town. 

I must now relate what happened at Jellalabad. 
When Sale reached this town its fortifications were 
not capable of being defended. He had thirteen days 
to strengthen them, and his engineers made such 
good use of the time that when on November 29 
the Afghans attacked it, they were driven off with 
heavy loss. About a month later came the news of 
what had happened at Cabul, and soon afterwards 
came a command from the General-in-Chief ordering 
Sale to give the place up, according to the terms of 
the agreement that had been made. Sale declared 
that he should not heed an agreement that had been 
made under fear of death, and that he should hold the 
place till the Government itself should order him to 
retire. Two or three days later came Dr. Brydon with 
the dreadful news that he was the sole survivor of the 
army that had marched a week before out of Cabul. 

Sale himself was now shaken. A council of war 
was held, at which he declared that they could not 
hope to be relieved for a long time to come, and that 
his own opinion was to make terms. The Afghans 



THE KHYBER PASS. 643 

offered a safe retreat to India, and he advised the 
council to accept the offer. Broadfoot, the engineer 
officer who had strengthened the defences, declared 
that such conduct would be neither safe nor honour- 
able. They could hold Jellalabad, he said, as long as 
they wanted to. Another officer, Oldfield by name 
— I feel bound to mention these gallant men — ex- 
claimed, " I will fight to the last drop of my blood, 
but I will never be a hostage, and I wonder that any 
one should regard an Afghan's word as worth any- 
thing." But the majority was the other way. Only 
these two voted for holding the town. But their ex- 
ample had its effect. The others soon recovered their 
courage, and it was resolved by all that they would 
hold on. 

For nearly three months the siege went on. Then 
as the town was closely blockaded, supplies began to 
fall short, and Sale determined on making a sally. 
The Afghan general had about 5000 men, and the 
garrison marched out in three columns, one of them 
led by an officer who was to become famous after- 
wards, Henry Havelock, to attack him. In the end 
the Afghans were swept out of their position, lost all 
their guns, and had their camp set on fire. Jellalabad 
was now safe. A fortnight afterwards General Pol- 
lock arrived with a relieving force, which was played 
into its camp on the plain by the band of the 1 3th 



644 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Regiment playing the tune of " Oh ! but ye've been 
lang o' coming ! " 

Five months afterwards the British army again 
entered Cabul. The great Bazaar, in which the heads 
of Burnes and Macnaughten had been paraded, was 
burnt, and the two places at which British regiments 
had been slaughtered were also destroyed. This done, 
the army returned to India. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE LION AND THE BEAR. 

In the year 1854 war broke out between England 
and France, on the one side, and Russia on the other. 
The cause, to put it shortly, was the ambition of 
Russia, which desired to seize part at least of the 
dominions of the Sultan of Turkey, especially Con- 
stantinople. I pass over the first few months. War 
was declared on March 28, but nothing of any im- 
portance was done for nearl}' half-a-year. Then 
England and France resolved to invade the Crimea. 
There Russia had a great fortress and arsenal, with a 
harbour which could hold a great fleet. As long as 
Sebastopol stood, Constantinople never could be 



THE LION AND THE BEAR. 645 

safe. The great object of the Allies, as I shall here- 
after call the two Powers, was to take this place. On 
September 14 the landing of troops was begun ; five 
days later the ^Allies marched in the direction of 
Sebastopol, which was about 25 miles distant. The 
Russian commander had taken up a position on some 
heights on the further side of the river Alma. It was 
a strong position, and he might have made it much 
stronger. Near the sea the heights w^ere very steep, 
and could be climbed only by a track in one place 
and a rough road in another. These approaches 
might have been destroyed, but these were not even 
guarded. The French, who made the attack on this 
side, suffered but little loss. And if our men had 
waited till they (the French) had finished their work, 
they too would have had an easier task. But the 
French commander asked Lord Raglan, who was the 
English general, to attack at once, and this was done. 
Our troops had to bear a heavy cannonade and 
musketry fire before they could come to close quarters 
with the enemy. There were mistakes in the way in 
which they were led, for indeed few officers had any 
experience, save some of the older men, who had 
served in the Peninsula forty years before. The 
Light Division had the hardest of the fighting to do, 
but it did it well. The first to make their way into 
the Russian breastwork were the men of the 23rd 



646 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

(Welsh Fusiliers). When, afterwards, they were 
forced partly down the slope by the superior force of 
t:he Russians, the Guards helped them bravely. Then 
the Russians gave wa}^ and fled in confusion towards 
Sebastopol, the English artillery doing them much 
harm as they went. We lost 2000 men in killed and 
wounded, the Russians at least three times as many ; 
the French suffered but little. 

It has been said by some writers that the Allies 
might have taken Sebastopol if they had gone on at 
once. Other writers have doubted ; and indeed we 
can never be certain as to what might or might not 
have been. And it must be remembered that, though 
the Allies lost man}^ men during the siege that 
followed, the Russians lost man}' more. They had 
to march all the men that were wanted to defend 
Sebastopol over great distances. Those that perished 
on the way were more than those who were killed in 
the siege. 

The Allies now set about besieging the town, the 
English taking the east side, the French the south, 
and soon found out that they had a very hard task to 
perform. While the}' were bus}' making trenches and 
cannonading, the Russians had quartered a large 
army on the field, and with this on October 25, they 
attacked the English lines at Balaklava. They drove 
out the Turks from some redoubts and then advanced 



THE LION AND THE BEAR. 649 

against the one English regiment which, with the 
Turks, made up the garrison of the place. This 
regiment was the 93rd Highlanders, commanded by 
Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde. The 
Highlanders stood firm, not in square, as usual when 
cavalry charge infantry, but in the "thin red line" 
which has become so famous. By this time, the 
English Heavy Cavalry were coming up to support 
the Highlanders. On their way, they came across a 
large body of Russian cavalry, charged them, and 
drove them down the other slope of the hill, on which 
they stood in confusion. The Light Brigade of 
cavalry was at hand, and might have charged the 
flying enemy and completed their destruction. They 
did not do so, but unhappily they did something else 
which made the day, that had been so far a day 
of success, end in disaster. Lord Raglan sent an order 
to the officer in command of the brigade to charge 
and so prevent the Russians carrying away the guns 
from the redoubts which they had taken. The charge 
was made, though it is doubtful whether it was what 
had been ordered, and quite certain that if Lord Rag- 
lan had seen what was to be done, he would not have 
thought of it. In front, about half-a-mile off, were 
the batteries which the brigade was to charge ; on 
either side there were cannon and masses of infantry. 
The two English regiments, six hundred men in all, 



650 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

rode straight on, through a storm of shot and shell ; 
they actually reached the batteries and drove the 
gunners away. Then they rode back, but they had 
lost nearly half their men and more than four-fifths of 
their horses. One of the regiments, when it was next 
mustered, had but ten mounted troopers. " It's splen- 
did, but it is not war," said a French general who saw 
the charge. He was quite right ; but the same might 
have been said of Arnold von Winkelreid when he 
broke the line of the Austrian infantry by gathering 
the spears into his own breast. 

A week afterwards, the Russians made another and 
more dangerous attack upon the Allies. The Russian 
commander had now 100,000 men at his disposal, and 
if he had used them with more skill, he might well 
have put an end to the siege. Before dawn on 
November 5, 19,000 men came out of Sebastopol 
and advanced against the English position, on what 
was called Mount Inkerman. Later in the day, 
another Russian force, not less numerous, came up 
from the other side. How the English troops resisted, 
and in the end drove back these assailants, far more 
numerous than themselves, it is impossible to say. 
The battle has been called a soldiers' battle. This 
means that the British troops fought where they 
stood, often in quite small parties ; their courage, 
their strength, their national habit of not knowing 



THE LION AND THE BEAR. 651 

when they were beaten, all helped them. "They held 
their ground with an audacious obstinacy, which it 
would be difficult to parallel in European warfare." 
Towards the afternoon, when their strength was 
becoming exhausted, the French came to their help. 
Without this, they could hardly have stood as firm as 
they did. Their loss was very heavy, 2300 men in 
killed and wounded, about a third of their whole force. 
But the Russian loss was many times greater, more 
than 1 2,000 men ; that of the French was about 900. 
If the Russians had used all the troops that were 
available, if, for instance, the French lines had been 
attacked at the same time with the English, the day 
of Inkerman would hardly have ended as it did, in 
one of the greatest victories in our history. 

After this defeat, the Russians did not again attempt 
to attack the Allies in the field, but the siege was verj- 
far from an end. The English troops — not to speak 
of the French who, for a time at least, suffered less — 
went through a terrible winter from cold, hunger, and 
disease. One cause of this was a great storm which 
happened nine days after the battle of Inkerman. 
The tents in the camp were blown down ; many ships, 
even in harbour, were wrecked ; the rain and snow, 
which continued for many days, made the roads and 
all the country deep in mud. Another cause was the 
want of proper stores for the men ; some necessary 



652 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

things, especially fuel, were wanting ; others had been 
badly chosen by the board of officers which had to 
look after this business.^ But the chief reason of all 
the trouble was the want of a Transport Service as it 
is called ; that is, a regular establishment of wagons, 
horses, and drivers to carry the food and other 
necessary things from the stores, which were by the 
sea, up to the camp. The few horses that there were 
died for want of forage, and the stores had to be 
carried by the soldiers themselves. The soldiers, 
after being for many hours in the trenches,^ instead 
of finding their food ready for them, had to go for 
miles through mud and rain to fetch it, and often 
found that it could not be got. And it must not be 
forgotten that, for some parts of the siege, the English 
army had more than its fair share of the work to do. 
The result of all this was such a state of misery as it 
is quite impossible to describe. At one time (the 
beginning of January, when things were, perhaps, at 

^ Green, or unroasted coffee, for instance, was given out to the 
men. Commonly, it is better to give it out green, because 
when it has been roasted for some time it begins to lose its 
flavour. But when the men were situated as they were before 
Sebastopol, green coffee was of no use, for it could not be 
roasted. 

2 The " trenches " are the zigzag lines by which a besieged 
city is approached. Zigzag they must be, because, if they 
were straight, they could be swept by cannon fired from 
the walls. 



THE LION AND THE BEAR. 653 

their worst) there were more than twice as many sick 
as were fit for duty. When I say "fit for duty," I 
mean who said they were fit for duty, for the brave 
soldiers held out to the very last of their strength 
before they would own that the}' were sick. One 
regiment was so reduced that there were but eight 
men (not counting officers) on parade. If the 
Russians had only known how weak we were, they 
might have put an end to the siege. 

Many strange stories are told of this time, some of 
them sad, some amusing. One thing that very soon 
came to pass was that the soldiers took very little 
trouble to keep themselves smart, but put on whatever 
they could find that would keep them comfortable and 
warm.^ An English major who was dressed in this 
sort of way was mistaken by some French officers 
who passed by his hut for the keeper of a canteen.- 
"Some absinthe," they said, "and make haste about 
it." The major, who had lived in France, served it 
much to their liking. "How much to pay!" "No- 
thing, gentlemen." "Nothing! People don't give 

1 This was no easy matter. Punch had a picture at the 
time of two ragged, shivering soldiers. One of them says to 
the other: "Jim, they say they'll give us a medal!" "In- 
deed ! " answered the other. " Maybe they'll give us a coat 
to put it on ! " 

2 A place where liquors and other things are sold to the 
soldiers. 



654 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

absinthe away." "Gentlemen," said the major, "I am 
in command of the — regiment of the hne, and am 
delighted to have had the chance of serving my 
French comrades." The Frenchmen apologized. A 
few days afterwards, the rest of the officers thought 
that they too ought to express their regret for the 
mistake ; so they paid a visit to the major, and when 
they went away he had no absinthe left. 

Fighting went on daily, and many curious things 
happened. Once, Captain, now Lord, Wolseley missed 
his way in a snow-storm, though he knew the ground 
perfectly well. Finding a great boulder, he was going 
to sit down upon it for a short rest, when he saw three 
Russians sheltering themselves on the other side. He 
was unarmed and ran away as fast as he could, and 
the Russians were too cold to use their rifles. Sir 
Evelyn Wood, who then belonged to the Naval 
Brigade,^ tells a story of how he was talking to a 
sergeant in charge of a battery, when what they thought 
was a shot lodged in the parapet close by. It was 
not a shot, but a shell ; a few moments later it burst ; 
a fragment cut Mr. Wood's cap off his head, but no 
harm was done. Once when Lord Raglan was going 
round the batteries, he sat down close to a 6o-pounder 
gun which was being fired, and at which several 

1 A detachment of men from the Fleet, who served in the 
sies^e. 



THE LION AND THE BEAR. 655 

Russian cannon were being aimed. A shot went 
through the parapet six inches above Lord Raglan's 
head, covering him with stones and earth. He stood 
up to shake himself, saying as coolly as usual, " Quite 
close enough." 

Early in April a great bombardment was begun, 
and was carried on for ten days. More than 100,000 
shell and shot were fired into the town, and the 
defences were broken down in more than one place. 
If an assault had been made — and the Russians, as 
we now know, fully expected that it would be made — 
Sebastopol would in all probability have been taken. 
The Russians had suffered very greatly in the 
bombardment, losing more than 6000 men. The 
Allies did not suffer nearly so much. If a Russian 
shot missed the batteries it did no further harm, but 
shot fired against the town commonly hit something. 

By this time, matters had greatly improved in the 
English camp. There was a railway between it and 
the sea, and stores were brought up in abundance. 
By the time that the siege came to an end, everything 
in our army was in good order ; far better, in fact, 
than among the French. 

On June 7 there was another heavy bombardment. 
When it was finished, an assault was made. The 
French took a fortification named the Mamelon. This 
had been made by Todleben in front of the walls, and 



656 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

had given the AlHes a great deal of trouble. On the 
1 8th of the same month — a day chosen because it was 
the anniversary of Waterloo — the French attacked 
the Malakoff, and the English the Redan, both of 
them important parts of the fortifications of Sebasto- 
pol. Both attacks failed, it is generally thought, 
because the French general resolved to attack too 
soon ; that is, before the bombardment had sufficiently 
broken down the defences. 

On June 28 Lord Raglan died. 

On September 8 the French, who had now brought 
their siege works close up to the Russian fortifications, 
stormed the Malakoff and took it. The same day 
the English attacked the Redan, but were beaten 
back. But the siege was now over. On the following 
night the Russians left Sebastopol, after destroying all 
that they could. They had lost at least 200,000 men. 
Great as had been the sufferings of the Allies, those of 
the besieged were far greater. 

Peace was proclaimed on April 28, 1856. 



CAlVNrORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI, 657 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW, DELHI. 

In the early summer of 1857 a terrible mutiny 
broke out among the native troops of the Indian 
army. There were many causes at work to bring 
this about. I cannot describe them here ; perhaps 
no one knows all about them. But I will mention 
one, because it is easily described, and also because it 
actually produced the first outbreak. Grease had been 
used in making the cartridges served out to the native 
troops. The ends of the cartridges used in those days 
had to be bitten or torn off. But to put a thing on 
which there was fat into the mouth, or even to touch 
it, was shocking to many of the Hindoos. And when 
the report was spread that the British Government 
had ordered this fat to be used for the purpose of 
making the Hindoos do what their religion forbade, 
it made the soldiers furious. At Meerut, a town 40 
miles N.E. of Delhi, some troopers of a native cavalry 
regiment were sentenced to imprisonment for refusing 
to touch the cartridges served out to them. This was 

u u 



658 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

on May 10. The next day all the native regiments 
(which I shall henceforth call ^'^Z^?;'^) mutinied, murder- 
ing some of their officers. They broke open the prison 
and released their comrades, plundered everything 
they could lay their hands on, and then made their 
way to Delhi, the ancient capital, as it may be called, 
of India. 

The mutiny which began in this way lasted for 
nearly two years. I cannot tell the whole story of 
it, and so have chosen three of the most famous names 
in it. 

CAWNPORE. 

Cawnpore was an important place on the road from 
Calcutta to Delhi. At this time it was garrisoned by 
three Sepoy regiments. There were no European 
troops. The officer in command was Sir Hugh 
Wheeler, who had had Sepoys under him all his life, 
and found it hard to believe that they were not loyal. 
Still he could not help seeing that all was not right, 
and he began to take precautions. Unfortunately he 
did not act at all wisely. He might have made the 
magazine into a strong fortress. What he did was to 
fortify in a way some barracks. These were so placed, 
however, that had the defences been much stronger 
than they were they could hardly have been held. A 
supply of provisions was laid in, but this too was very 



CAU'NPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 



659 



badly done. But this, we shall see, did not matter in 
the end. On June 4 the Sepoy regiments mutinied. 
They intended to march away and join their comrades 







C AWN PORE. 



at Delhi, but a native prince, Nana Sahib by name, 
who believed that the British Government had treated 
him badly, and was eager for revenge, persuaded them 
to attack the Europeans at Cawnpore. 



66o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The barracks had been hastily surrounded by a mud 
wall. Behind this there were gathered together about 
one thousand people. Not quite half were men, the 
soldiers among them being chiefly the officers of the 
regiments that had mutinied. For three weeks they 
held out. They might at any .time have cut their way 
through the enemy, but they could not leave behind 
them the women and children. At the last nothing was 
left but to treat with the enemy^ Nana Sahib promised 
to send them safely away. They were to march out 
of the fort, and to embark in boats which had been 
provided for them. On their way to the river they 
were attacked by the treacherous enemy. Some 
reached the boats, and perished afterwards ; others 
were afterwards murdered. Nearly a quarter of the 
whole number, happier than their companions, had 
died of disease, or been killed during the siege. 

LUCK NOW. 

Here matters were better managed than at Cawn- 
pore, thanks to the wisdom of the officer in command, 
Sir Henry Lawrence. The building, which had been 
formerly occupied by the Resident,^ was strongly 

^ Lucknow had been the capital of the native State of Oudh. 
Oudh had been governed by a Rajah, with the assistance of 
a British officer, who was called the " Resident." This officer 
had a strong force of soldiers to protect him. 



CAWNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 66 1 

fortified, and a good store of provisions was laid in. 
The place was invested by the mutineers on July i. 
The next day Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally 
wounded by a shell which entered the room where he 
was sitting. He died on the 4th. On the 30th of the 
same month General Havelock, who had reached 
Cawnpore too late to rescue the inmates of the fort, 
and was on his way to relieve Lucknow, reached a 
spot about fifty miles from that town. But here he 
had to halt. His little army was not strong enough 
to go forward. He had started from Cawnpore with 
less than 1500 men, of whom not quite 1200 were 
Europeans. He had had to fight two battles, and 
had lost between two and three hundred of his feu- 
European soldiers. He had to count on losing more 
before he could reach Lucknow. He could hardly have 
more than 600 fit for service when he arrived. He 
had nearly exhau-sted his ammunition, and he had no 
means of carrying the sick and wounded. He fell 
back. A few days afterwards he advanced, and again 
retired. To have gone on would have been to lose his 
army, and to take away all hope of the safety of Luck- 
now. On September 19 he started for the third 
time. He had now 3179 men, of whom all but 400 
were Europeans. 

Meanwhile the Lucknow garrison had been holding 
out bravely. The Residency, which, as I have said, 



662 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

they occupied, was not a fortress. It was not strong, 
and it was too near the buildings of the city. Four 
times the enemy assaulted it, and were driven back. 
The garrison, too, had to fight under the ground as 
well as above the ground, for tiie enemy never ceased 
to make mines, which the garrison had to destroy with 
counter mines. Sometimes the two would meet, and 
then there would be a fierce struggle almost in the dark. 
But so watchful and so skilful were the engineers in 
the garrison that the enemy never but once succeeded 
in making a mine that did any serious damage. But 
there was dreadful loss of life. In eighty-seven days, 
the time between July i, when the Residency was first 
besieged, and September 25, when it was relieved for 
the first time, there died, killed or mortall)' wounded, 
or struck down by disease, 350 Europeans and 133 
native soldiers. 

On September 23 Havelock, who had now Sir 
James Outram with him,i came in sight of Lucknow. 
After two days' fighting, which I cannot attempt to 
describe, he and his brave men made their way into 
the Residency. It was not done without heavy loss, 
for the enemy, who were trained soldiers, trained, too, 
by British officers, and well knew that they had com- 

1 Outram might have taken over the command from Havelock, 
but very generously offered to serve under him till Lucknow had 
been relieved. 



C AWN PORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 663 

mitted crimes which could not be pardoned, fought 
fiercely. Altogether 535 British and native soldiers 
were either killed or wounded in these two days^ 
about one in six, that is, of the whole army which had 
marched out of Cawnpore. As for the joy of the 
people in Lucknow, of the men, who had begun to 
doubt whether they could defend the place much 
longer, of the women, who had suffered so much them- 
selves, and so much more in seeing their children 
fade away before their eyes, there is no telling it. 

But all was not over yet. To put the matter shortly, 
another siege began. Outram and Havelock were not 
strong enough to leave the place, taking with them all 
the sick and wounded, with the women and children. 
Of these there were altogether about a thousand. 
This second siege lasted for seven weeks. On 
November 16 Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord 
Clyde, reached Lucknow ; the garrison sallied forth at 
the same time, and attacked the enemy. This time 
the place was really relieved. Eight days later 
Havelock died. Sir Colin Campbell and Outram 
marched away, and for a time Lucknow was left to 
the enemy. 

DELHI. 

In the midst of the fighting that took place during 
the first relief of Lucknow, news was brought that 



664 S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Delhi had been taken. The troops were partially 
formed into a square and the despatch read to them. 
They heard it with a loud cheer, and indeed it was 
very good news indeed. It was the first great thing 
that had been done towards bringing this dreadful war 
to an end. 

I have said that the Sepoy regiments that mutinied 
at Meerut fled at once to Delhi. This city had been 
the seat of a powerful kingdom, and there was still a 
King of Delhi, though he was a king in name only, 
the real government of the country being in our hands. 
But the leaders of the rebellion hoped that the ancient 
name would be a source of strength to them. 

The Sepoys did dreadful deeds in Delhi. I would not 
describe them if I could. But I can tell }^ou of some brave 
acts which our countrjanen did, faithful to their duty to 
the last. A telegraph clerk was killed at his desk, having 
just wired to Sir John Lawrence, who was Governor of 
the Punjaub: "The Sepoys have come in from Meerut, 
and are burning everything." Sir John Lawrence 
received the message in a few hours' time, and at once 
began preparing to send help. No one did more to 
save the British power in India, and it was a great 
thing that he was warned so soon. Then there was a 
young officer, Willoughby by name, who was in charge 
of the magazine. He did good service, and in the 
very bravest way. He had eight Europeans with him. 



CAWNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI, 665 

For a time they defended the magazine, hoping that 
help would come. When Lieutenant Willoughby saw 
that this would not be, he determined to blow up the 
magazine and all the stores in it. A train of powder 
had been laid, and one of the eight — his name was 
Scully — offered to fire it when Willoughby gave the 
signal. Scully perished in the explosion, but a thou- 
sand mutineers perished with him, and all the am- 
munition in the magazine was destroyed. Four of 
the eight made their way out in safety. Willoughby 
himself was murdered on his way to Meerut. 

The first thing that the British Government did 
was to prepare to take Delhi out of the hands of 
the mutineers and the king, who indeed was nothing 
more than a puppet in their hands. All the troops 
that were available were hastily got together, and 
on June 8 the siege of Delhi was begun. To take 
the city seemed almost hopeless. One side of the 
city was protected by the river. On the others were 
fortifications not less than seven miles round, very 
strong, and with more than a hundred guns mounted 
upon them. The besieging army consisted of but a 
{^\N thousand men. It could not even attempt to 
invest the city. All that was possible was to attack 
that part where there seemed most hope of success. 
Behind the walls of the city there were many thou- 
sands of rebels, trained soldiers all of them. And the 



666 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

besiegers, for the present at least, had no heavy guns 
with which to make a breach in the walls. For about 
three months, indeed, there was no siege. A small 
British army held its own against a far more numerous 
enemy. There was fighting almost, one might say, 
without ceasing. In these two months thirty actions 
took place, one, that is, for every two days. And 
some of these actions lasted for more than a day. We 
find an officer writing, after a grand attack by the 
enemy had been made and beaten off : " Most of us 
had been fighting for more than thirty hours." On 
June 23 the enemy made a tremendous attack on our 
camp. It was the hundredth anniversary of the battle 
of Plassey, and there was a very common belief that 
it was to be the last of the I^ritish rule. Fired by the 
hope of bringing this to pass the Sepoys fiercel}' 
assailed our camp. They were beaten back with 
heavy loss, and from that time were far less confident 
than before. 

At last, early in September, the heavy guns, that 
were wanted to mike a breach in the walls, came 
up. The mutineers had tried to take them as they 
approached, but were driven off with heavy loss. On 
the 4th of the month they reached the British camp, 
each drawn by twenty couple of oxen. The engineers 
busied themselves in building the batteries, and the 
guns were mounted as they were finished, and opened 



CAJVNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 667 

fire on the city. On the nth the guns were all at 
work, and two days afterwards they had made such 
breaches in the walls — they were of stone, which does 
not resist nearly so well as earth — that it seemed as if 
the assault could be made. But it was necessary first 
to find out the exact state of the case. Four officers 
volunteered to examine the breaches. This they did, 
and narrowly escaped with their lives. The report 
\\'hich the}' brought back was such that an assault was 
ordered for the next day at dawn. 

The attacking force was in five columns. The first 
and second of these were to force their way into the 
city through breaches that had been made in the 
walls ; the third was to enter by the Cashmere Gate ; ^ 
the fourth was to go against the Cabul Gate ; the 
fifth was to follow the first. In all the five columns 
there were not more than 6000 men, of whom about 
one-fifth were British soldiers ; inside the walls there 
were not less than 30,000 rebels. 

It had been arranged that the assault should be 
made at dawn, but it was bright daylight before the 
columns reached the walls. Both the breaches were 
carried, but not without heavy loss. At the second 
twenty-nine out of the thirty-nine men who carried 
the scaling ladders in part of the column were struck 

^ The gates of Delhi were called by the names of the provinces 
to which they led. 



668 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

down. But fresh men filled their places ; the ladders 
were set against the walls ; men mounted, cut down 
the gunners at their guns, and drove all before them. 
Perhaps the hardest work of all was done at the 
Cashmere Gate. A party of Sappers and Miners 
made their way to the Gate, carrying with them the 
powder-bags with which it was to be blown up. 
The drawbridge had been partly destroyed, but they 
crossed by the beams that were left, and placed the 
powder against the gate. The wicket was open, and 
through this the enemy within went on firing at our 
men. A sergeant was killed while laying the train 
of powder ; the officer who was to light the fuse was 
mortally wounded just as he was about to do it ; he 
handed the match to a sergeant, and the sergeant was 
shot down, but not till he had succeeded. A tremen- 
dous explosion followed ; the Gate was blown in, and 
the bugle sounded thrice as a signal for the column to 
enter. 

The fourth column only failed in its task. At one 
time it seemed as if the rebels might make a counter 
attack in this direction, which would have been dan- 
gerous to the whole British army, but a charge of the 
Cavalry Brigade drove them back. 

It must not be supposed that Delhi was taken when 
the attacking columns made their way into it over the 
breaches or through the gates. The fight was carried 



QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 669 

on fiercely and obstinately in the streets. One of the 
best and bravest of the English officers, Brigadier 
Nicholson, whom men called " The Lion of the Pun- 
jaub," was killed within the city. So were many 
others. Almost every street was defended by the 
rebels. It was not till the afternoon of September 20, 
more than six days after the morning of the first attack, 
that the Palace, the last stronghold of the rebels in 
Delhi, was taken. 

The British army, which never numbered more than 
10,000 men, lost nearly 4000 in killed and wounded 
during the siege. How many died of disease, sooner 
or later, it would not be possible to say. But the 
taking of Delhi was well worth all that it cost. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

There were many wars during the forty odd years 
which followed the Indian Mutiny. A country that 
has possessions in every quarter of the world cannot 
expect to be often completely at peace. It was so 



670 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with Rome/ and it is likely to be so with England. 
But it was not till 1899 that there was a war so serious 
as to call forth the whole strength of the Empire. In 
the October of that year the two republics in South 
Africa, known as the Transvaal and the Orange Free 
State, declared war on this country. I cannot go into 
the causes which brought about this event. In the 
republics there was a fear that England wished to 
interfere with their independence. We, on the other 
hand, had good reason for thinking that there was a 
scheme for driving us entirely out of South Africa 
and establishing there a Dutch empire. (It must be 
remembered that the ruling race in the republics was 
Dutch, and that the majority of the inhabitants of 
Cape Colony were of this race.) In October 1899, 
then, the Boer army — the inhabitants of the two 
republics are known as Boers — invaded Natal. 

I cannot tell the story of what happened during the 
two years and a half^' that followed. It must be 
enough to say something about what was the most 
important event of the war, the siege of Ladysmith. 

Ladysmith is a town in the Colony of Natal, about 

^ There was a temple at Rome dedicated to the God Janus, 
the gates of whieli were always open as long as there was war 
going on in any part of the Empire. We are told that they were 
shut three times only in the course of eight hundred years. 

2 War was declared on October 11, 1899, and peace was 
concluded on May 31, 1902. 



THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 671 

twenty miles from the border of what was the Orange 
Free State. A worse place to defend could hardly be 
found, for it was commanded by hills on every side. 
But there were reasons for holding it ; a vast quantity 
of stores had been accumulated there, and it guarded 
the Colony of Natal. The siege began after an 
unfortunate battle fought near the town, in which 
many British troops were taken prisoner, and the rest 
driven back within the fortifications. On November 
2, 1899, the town was invested. General White, who 
was in command, had some 12,000 men of all arms. 
He had a very long line to defend, and the Boers were 
in possession of an outer circle of hills. Their guns, 
too, had a greater range than ours. The women and 
children were lodged in a camp which was, of course, 
not fired upon by the enemy; another camp was 
occupied by part of the British force ; the rest of it 
garrisoned the town itself. 

A week after the investment the Boers made their 
first attack. It was not very vigorously pushed, and 
two regiments (the Manchester and 1st battalion 60th 
Rifles) repulsed it with but little loss. Then for some 
weeks they sat still, waiting till want of food — there 
were thousands of women and children to be fed, 
besides the soldiers — and disease should compel sur- 
render. Of course there was fighting from time to 
time. On December 5, for instance, a sortie was 



672 S^'ORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

made by which two of the Boer guns which had been 
particularly troublesome were destroyed, and a Maxim 
captured. This exploit was the work of Irregulars ; 
on the nth the Regulars had their turn and captured 
a howitzer. All this time, and for weeks afterwards, 
the Boer fire went on ; sometimes as many as two or 
three hundred shells were thrown into the town in the 
course of a single day. Not so much harm was done 
as might have been expected ; but sometimes the 
explosion was terribly fatal. On December 17 six 
Natal Carabineers were killed and three wounded 
in this way; on the 22nd five of the Devons were 
killed and twelve wounded in the same way. • Then 
on January 6, 1 900, came the great Boer assault. 
There is a range of hills to the south of the town, 
one end of which was known as Caesar's Camp, the 
other as Waggon Hill. The attack was a complete 
surpri.se. The storming party reached the ridge 
without opposition. But then the fighting began in 
earnest. One regiment (the Manchester) held Caesar's 
Camp ; these were reinforced by three companies of 
the Gordon Highlanders and four companies of the 
Rifle Brigade. A battery of Field Artillery (the 53rd) 
also came to their help. It had to fire over their 
heads into the enemy ; but this it did without making 
a mistake, a feat all the more wonderful because the 
gunners had no protection. But their courage never 



THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 673 

failed, nor their skill. One man — Barber by name — 
whose leg and arm had been stricken off, called to his 
men to roll his body off the trail and go on working 
the gun. On Waggon Hill the fight was even fiercer. 
There the garrison consisted of Imperial Light Horse 
and Sappers. They held their own most gallantly, 
though they had no entrenchment or defence of any 
kind. Five companies of the 60th Rifles and a few 
Gordons came to their help, and a little later, two 
more troops of Light Horse and another four com- 
panies of Rifles. The fighting lasted for hours ; it was 
often hand to hand ; men slew and were slain in turn 
as in the great battles of Homer. Further on in the 
day the Devons came to the help of the garrison and 
swept the Boers before them. The gallant men at 
the other end of the ridge saw what had happened 
and were cheered to new effort. At both points the 
Boer attack was repulsed. 

For six weeks more the siege lasted. It was a 
weary time, for the hospitals were crowded, and food 
grew scarcer and scarcer, and there was the sickness 
of hope deferred, for da}^ after day could be heard 
the thunder of the guns of the relieving army. I wish 
that I had space to tell the story of that army's 
advance. There was a time of darkness, almost of 
despair ; mistakes were made, attacks made that 

should never have been attempted, and relinquished 

X x 



674 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

when success was almost coming in sight. One thing 
never failed, the steadfast, enduring courage of the 
British soldier. At last the difficult task was accom- 
plished ; Lord Dandonald, with two squadrons of 
cavalry, made his way into the town. On March 3, 
just 1 10 days after the complete investment, Sir 
Red vers Buller, who was in command of the relieving 
army, made a state entry. More than a thousand men 
in the garrison had died of wounds or disease. If 
Ladysmith had fallen South Africa might well have 
been lost. There would certain 1}^ have been an 
insurrection of the Dutch in Cape Colony, and it is 
not unlikely that some of our enemies in Europe 
might have gathered courage enough to declare 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII. 

In 1897 Queen Victoria kept her Diamond Jubilee. 

She had reigned more than sixty years.^ The Empire 

^ Queen Victoria came to the throne, on the death of her 
uncle, WiUiam IV., June 29, 1837. George III. succeeded his 
grandfather, George II., October 25, 1760, and died January 29, 
1820, the length of his reign being therefore 59 years. 



QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII. 675 

had prospered in her time, greatly extending its borders 
and growing in wealth and power. Not a little of this 
prosperity was due to the Queen herself. Never had 
there been a Sovereign more illustrious, more devoted 
to duty ; and, in later years at least, she had come to 
know about some things more than any of her ministers. 
But she could not do what she did and be what she 
was but at a heavy cost. Not to speak of her private 
sorrows, she felt the troubles of her people — scarcity, 
pestilence, war. And then, when she was far on in 
years, and her health was beginning to fail, came the 
great trouble of the South African war. A large army 
of more than 200,000 men had been sent from this 
country to the seat of war, and ^^^ry day brought 
news of deaths in battles or by disease .of British 
soldiers and of the brave men who had hastened from 
the great Colonies to help the Mother Country in her 
need. Many of these she knew ; all were in a peculiar 
sense her servants ; their death was something like a 
personal loss to her. And still, fighting against grow- 
ing weakness, she went on with the work of the state, 
adding to it the self-imposed duty of visiting the sick 
and wounded when they were brought back to these 
shores. 

On January 22, 1 90 1, the Queen died, having lived 
just three days longer than the longest-lived of her 
predecessors, George III. Never in the history of the 



676 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

world, we may safely say, did the death of a ruler 
bring with it a wider and a deeper sorrow, for never 
had ruler been so loved and trusted. It must be 
remembered also how great was the extent of her 
Empire, so that this loss touched not less than three 
hundred millions of people, a fourth, it may be 
reckoned, of the whole human race. Nor did the 
news take, as it would have taken half a century 
before, weeks, or even months to travel to distant 
regions. It was flashed by the telegraph wires in a 
few minutes, or at most hours, to almost every part of 
the Empire. The mourning for Queen Victoria was 
indeed a great mourning. 

And the funeral was a great solemnity. The Queen 
had died at her palace at Osborne in the Isle of 
Wight. On February i the coffin was taken from 
Osborne to Cowes, and from Cowes the Royal yacht, 
Alberta, transported it to Gosport. All the warships 
within reach had been gathered to this neighbourhood 
and ranged in two lines. As the Alberta passed 
between them they fired a salute, the last honour 
which they were to render to " Her Majesty." The 
remains rested for that night at Gosport ; the next 
day they were brought to London, and conveyed on 
a gun-carriage between the two railway stations, 
Victoria and Paddington, escorted by as complete a 
representation of the British army as could be got 



QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VI L 677 

together at the time. In point of numbers the 
procession could not be very large, for the main 
strength of our soldiers was elsewhere, but every arm 
of the service was represented. This military funeral 
was in strict obedience to the wishes of the Queen. 
She had always had a special interest in the army. 
It was a taste hereditary in her family. She herself 
in the early days of her reign had loved to attend 
reviews clad in a scarlet riding-habit. There was a 
great following of ngtable mourners. Close behind 
the coffin rode the new King, supported on one side 
by the Duke of Connaught and on the other by the 
Emperor of Germany. The Emperor showed himself 
at his very best during this time of mourning. He 
had hurried over from Germany at the news of his 
grandmother's illness,had watched with evident sorrow 
at her bedside, and had rendered all the service in his 
power during the days that followed, days that were 
as full of occupation as they were of sorrow. Behind 
these three, the chief mourners of the day, followed 
the Kings of Portugal and Greece, and representatives 
of all the royal families in Europe. That night the 
remains rested in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. 
On the following Monday they were taken, privately 
and without any pomp, to the Mausoleum at Frog- 
more, and laid beside the coffin of the husband from 



678 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 

whom the dead Queen had been parted nearly forty 
years ^ before. 

The interval between the Accession of King Edward 
and the day appointed for his Coronation was un- 
usually long. The Coronation is, of course, a great 
festival, and cannot decently be celebrated during the 
period of mourning. It is also a matter of con- 
venience that it should take place in the summer, 
when the days are long, and when fine weather may 
reasonably be expected. Oueep Victoria herself had 
been crowned on June 28, just eight days more than a 
year after her accession. The day appointed for her 
successor was the 25 th of the same month. Very 
great preparations were made for the ceremony. 
Westminster Abbey was fitted up for the reception of 
an assembly more splendid, it may well be believed, 
than any that had ever been gathered together on 
such, one might almost say, on any occasion. The 
peers and peeresses of the Kingdom, the judges, the 
officers of State, representatives from all the great 
towns were to have a place. With these were to be 
representatives from the Colonies and of India, and 
embassies from all the nations of the civilized world. 
The streets of London were to be lined with troops, 
while miles of seats had been erected for the accom- 
^ The Prince Consort died December 14, 1861. 



QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VI L 6'j<) 

modation of spectators without number. And tlien, 
only the day before that appointed for the ceremon)-, 
it was announced that the King was too ill to be 
present, and a few hours later the startling news that 
he had to undergo a dangerous operation. Seldom 
has a nation passed more quickly from glad expecta- 
tion to anxious fear. Happily all went better than 
the most sanguine had dared to hope. The operation 
was successfully performed. The King recovered with 
quite unusual rapidity, and the ceremony of Corona- 
tion was performed, with diminished splendour indeed, 
but in the midst of the most sincere thankfulness on 
the part of the nation, on August 9, 1902 



Richard Clay ^^ So/is, Limited^ London &^ Bnnsay, 



